Colm Tóibín

This event is now on sale to MLF Get Closer Members and tickets will go on General Sale on Friday 7 March. MLF memberships start at £20 per year - for full details of membership benefits and buying options click HERE.

We are delighted to welcome Colm Tóibín back to Manchester to discuss his latest novel Long Island. Set twenty years after the events of Brooklyn, Eilis Lacey returns to Enniscorthy, Ireland for her mother’s 80th birthday after she discovers her husband Tony has fathered a child with another woman. Her arrival disturbs the balance of the town, particularly the secret relationship between her friend Nancy and her former lover Jim Farrell. Before the month is over, hearts will be broken again. Colm will discuss returning to these characters two decades on; writing women, especially mothers and daughters, and the success of Brooklyn.

Colm Tóibín is the author of ten previous novels, three of which – The Blackwater Lightship, The Master, Brooklyn – were nominated for the Booker Prize, two collections of stories and many works of non-fiction. His most recent novel, The Magician, won the Rathbones Folio Award in 2022. In 2021 he was awarded the David Cohen Prize and in 2022 the Bodley Medal. Brooklyn was made into an award-winning film starring Saoirse Ronan.

Presented by Manchester Literature Festival and Waterstones Deansgate in partnership with the Centre for New Writing and Creative Manchester.

Wheelchair Users and those with other access needs requiring a free Essential Carer ticket should contact the Quaytickets Box Office on 0161 876 2015 to purchase tickets.