Colm Tóibín

But I thought...

This figure is really important.

He's taken over a certain sort of role in Irish life or Irish emigrant life.

I bet there's a figure in every, all over Australia.

There are guys like that sitting in bars, just watching who's coming in and coming out and knowing what should be, what match is coming and should be on the TV.

And I just thought that it was important that this was registered finally in Irish fiction.

I think any short story writer is pretty limited.

You've got to be very careful that you don't.

I mean, I was repeating names, certainly.

I had a whole lot of Pauls and Toms and I had to put in a Seamus, which I didn't want to do.

And even I was looking at the other day, how did that Seamus get in there?

Because, of course, there was too many Pauls and Toms.

I had half that story written.

I had done that hike up to Muir Woods, which is outside San Francisco.

So I had all that done with the guys, his last weekend in America, having stayed illegally.

Thing is, if you leave America, having been there illegally, you never get back in.

Your name is on the most extraordinary blacklist on a computer.

Things beep when you would appear to try and get into America again.

So when Donald Trump was elected a second time, I realized I'm going to finish this story.

And I'm going to have it finished by the time Trump is inaugurated.