Colm Tóibín

Thank you.

The shoes are called Allbirds.

And I was at a conference on Proust at Columbia.

And the two cleverest people I knew there were wearing the same sort of shoes.

One was Lydia Davis and the other was Anne Carson.

And they're both about the same age as I am.

And they just looked tremendous.

And I think they spoke beautifully.

And they were very confident.

And they were both wearing sort of men's jackets and these shoes.

And I wanted to be them and Carson and Lydia Davis.

I mean, more than anybody.

And I asked them, I couldn't ask them, what shoes are you wearing?

Because I thought it would be, you know, considered sort of, oh God, after all I've said about Proust, that's all you can ask me.

But I asked somebody who I thought knew about these things, please come and look at their shoes.

And they told me they were wearing Allbirds.

And so I immediately applied for Allbirds online.

And they're size nine.

And they came.

So I wear Allbirds all the time now because they just are very comfortable.