Conversations

Why Colm Toibin ran away with the circus — to Barcelona, Brooklyn and beyond

29 May 2025

Audio

Description

The Irish novelist has always been open to where life can unexpectedly take him, and the excitement that comes with that kind of freedom.Colm Toibin's first big move was from rural Ireland to Dublin after his father died when he was young. Then, it was off to experience the wild hedonism and sexual liberation of post-Franco Spain, a pleasant shock after needing a prescription to buy condoms in Ireland.Since then, he's journeyed to Sudan, Los Angeles, New York and beyond.Wherever Colm goes, he keeps a running list in his head of tiny details — observations of seemingly mundane encounters, an offhand comment or the cut of a lady's suit on a train.Every now and then, these details bubble up in Colm's memory and another of his well-loved novels, like Brooklyn, Nora Webster or The Master, is born.This episode was produced by Meggie Morris. Conversations Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. Presented by Sarah Kanowski.It explores film adaptations, death of a parent, grief, Ireland, homophobia, growing up gay, Catholicism, epic adventure, John Crowley, Nick Hornby, Saoirse Ronan, Domhnall Gleeson, Julie Walters, Dublin, immigrant experience, the Irish immigrant experience, family separation, origin stories, falling in love, books, writers, novels, life-story, family dynamics, reflection, loss, funny, comedy, repression, orgies, condom prescriptions, journalism, foreign correspondents.Colm's latest novel Long Island is published by Pan MacMillan.He was in Australia as a guest of the Wheeler Centre, RMIT, Melbourne Writers Festival and Sydney Writers Festival.To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Transcription

This episode hasn't been transcribed yet

Help us prioritize this episode for transcription by upvoting it.

0 upvotes

🗳️ Sign in to Upvote

Popular episodes get transcribed faster

Other episodes from Conversations

Transcribed and ready to explore now

The adoptive mum who now fights to keep families together

24 Jun 2026

Conversations

A race against time to help my friend dying from mesothelioma

22 Jun 2026

Conversations

"ELVIS IS ALIVE AND RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT" The story behind the nonsensical Weekly World News

19 Jun 2026

Conversations

Encore: Darren Hayes on the dark side of his fame with Savage Garden

18 Jun 2026

Conversations

Why this private investigator loves the cases others have given up solving

17 Jun 2026

Conversations

Encore: My eerie week inside Kanye West's Hollywood mansion

16 Jun 2026

Conversations

View all episodes from Conversations

Comments

There are no comments yet.

Please log in to write the first comment.

Report any issue

Conversations

Why Colm Toibin ran away with the circus — to Barcelona, Brooklyn and beyond

This episode hasn't been transcribed yet

Other episodes from Conversations

The adoptive mum who now fights to keep families together

A race against time to help my friend dying from mesothelioma

"ELVIS IS ALIVE AND RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT" The story behind the nonsensical Weekly World News

Encore: Darren Hayes on the dark side of his fame with Savage Garden

Why this private investigator loves the cases others have given up solving

Encore: My eerie week inside Kanye West's Hollywood mansion

Sign in to Audioscrape

Share this moment