Colm Tóibín

And people might think, God, I can't believe they've been around that long or they were old enough to be editor.

But actually, for someone like Colm Tobin and Fintan O'Toole, they were, I think, 27 when they became editor.

And so Vincent Brown had incredible faith.

in young journalists and in talent and in recognising potential.

You know, we, of course, know Fintan very well now and his books, his journalism.

Colm Tobin is one of our great writers.

And to put them in the editor's chair at such a young age, it really shows a remarkable act of faith.

Yeah, and I think it's one of the things that Vincent Brown succeeded in doing as editor.

Commenters loved how intimate it felt, contrasting it favorably against Kenneth Branagh's massive, opulent 1990s Shakespeare films.

Commenters also demanded recognition for Colm Tóibín's Brooklyn, the brilliant 2018 South Korean adaptation of Haruki Murakami's short story Burning, and Kenneth Branagh's mustache-twirling take on Murder on the Orient Express.

But the absolute best dissenting opinion brings us full circle to the anecdote we opened the show with.

Here we go.

He opens up about fading of masculine drives, grief, and the freedom of letting go in your eighties.

Acclaimed author and poet Colm Tóibín opens up about creativity and sexuality in his seventies.

Sexual prowess, sexual desire, sexual need takes a bit of a turn as you move from your sixties into your seventies.

Comedian David Baddiel and journalist Matthew Todd grapple with the anxieties and opportunities of middle age.

I think there, there are writers who are just fabulous company and interesting people, and some of them I know.

Colm Tóibín, for example, I mean, you couldn't want for a nicer person-

Mm

... um, or better company.

Although, as we know, Ruth Negga sadly won't be appearing in that one.

But there is Testament, the opera based on Colm Tobin's novel The Testament of Mary.

There's a Druid production of Eugene O'Neill's A Mood for the Misbegotten with a great cast.

Eileen Walsh, Lorcan Cronage, Marty Ray.

I think there, there are writers who are just fabulous company and interesting people, and some of them I know.

Colm Tóibín, for example.

I mean, you couldn't want for a nicer person-

Mm

It is written in an utterly original voice that sweeps you away with its brutal narrative force and with tenderness, too.

We have spoken to several Irish authors on this podcast, Colm Toibin, John Banville, Lucy Caldwell, Fiona Scarlett, Caroline O'Donoghue, Sarah Moss.

Each brings a completely unique storytelling voice to the same relatively small part of the world, sometimes to the same streets and shores.

My own sense is that Jamel White's literary take on his Dublin echoes the way James Joyce captured how it can be both a home and a place where you are an outsider.

Well, I mean, there are Irish parallels, uh, in, in the Irish heart, you know, the, the way we experience 19th century history, for instance.

Um, I, I mean, like, it's one of the curiosities of Irish life is that myself and Colm Toibin couldn't really read or write till we were eight.

Extraordinary.

So actually s- still reading a lot of books is a bit of a challenge, at least before I begin, but I have to, you have to read everything, and I was in love with history at, at school.

We're going to be celebrating with the Opera Festival, who are also 75th, in the town hall here.

We'll be putting on a joint event where we'll have opera singers, we'll have Colm Tobin's anthem, his first anthem that he's specially written for the 75th Opera Festival, and we'll have a play about the birthplace story here.

So we're great celebrations.

And

Do you take a bit of a break or, you know, is there a balance between I'm knackered and I want to lie down and but I also have to, you know, mortgage and stuff?

Well, I would love to be taking a break, but I'm going straight to Wexford to direct a world premiere that's celebrating the 75th birthday of the Wexford Festival, written by Alberto Caruso and Colm Tobin.

That's an interesting pairing.

This is their third opera.