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Colum McCann

コラム・マッキャン

Koramu Makkan

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1965-02-28 （Dublin, Ireland）
Nationality
Irish, American
Languages
English
Residence History
Dublin (birth, childhood) → Hyannis, Massachusetts → Brenham, Texas → Japan (lived 1993–1994) → New York City (resident)

Career

Occupations
Writer, Playwright, Screenwriter
Active Years
1983-
Affiliations
Aosdána (member), Hunter College (Writer in Residence), Narrative 4 (co-founder & president), American Academy of Arts and Letters (member)
Memberships
Aosdána, American Academy of Arts and Letters
Influenced By
James Joyce, E. L. Doctorow, Wallace Stevens
Influenced
Younger writers influenced via Narrative 4 and his mentoring
Nominations
Man Booker Prize longlist (Apeirogon), Man Booker Prize longlist (TransAtlantic)

Education

College of Commerce, Rathmines (now Technological University Dublin)
Journalism
Period: 1980s
Country: Ireland
Studied journalism; wrote for newspapers while a student
University of Texas at Austin
Period: 1988–1990頃
Country: United States
Studied and published stories while at UT; inducted into Phi Beta Kappa

Awards

Rooney Prize
1994
Work: Fishing the Sloe-Black River (short stories)
Organization: Trinity College (Rooney Prize committee)
Result: 受賞
National Book Award (Fiction)
2009
Work: Let the Great World Spin
Category: フィクション
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: 受賞
International Dublin Literary Award
2011
Work: Let the Great World Spin
Organization: International Dublin Literary Award organization
Result: 受賞
Guggenheim Fellowship
2010
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: 受賞
Chevalier des Arts et Lettres
2009
Organization: French government
Result: 叙勲
Pushcart Prize
2016
Work: Thirteen Ways of Looking (story collection/excerpt)
Organization: Pushcart Press
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Let the Great World Spin

2009 Literary fiction

Set on August 7, 1974—the morning Philippe Petit walked a high wire between the Twin Towers—the novel follows multiple New York characters and explores loss, redemption and connection.

urban lifelossredemptionpolyphony

Apeirogon

2020 Literary fiction

Through the true stories of two fathers—one Israeli, one Palestinian—who each lost a daughter, the novel explores grief, empathy and possibilities for reconciliation.

griefempathypolitical conflicthealing

TransAtlantic

2013 Historical literary fiction

A multi-voiced novel weaving together stories across the Atlantic—Alcock and Brown's 1919 flight, Frederick Douglass's visit to Ireland, and the Irish peace process.

movementintersecting historiesmemory

This Side of Brightness

1998 Literary fiction

A novel focusing on the sandhogs who built New York's subway tunnels and the homeless living there decades later, interweaving history and contemporary lives.

laborunderground urban lifealienation

Twist

2025 Literary fiction

Released in March 2025; a recent novel with details left concise here.

Bibliography

  • Songdogs (1995)
  • This Side of Brightness (1998)
  • Dancer (2003)
  • Zoli (2006)
  • Let the Great World Spin (2009)
  • TransAtlantic (2013)
  • Apeirogon (2020)
  • American Mother (co-written, 2024)
  • Twist (2025)
  • Fishing the Sloe-Black River (short stories, 1994)
  • Everything in This Country Must (short fiction, 2000)
  • Thirteen Ways of Looking (2015)

Adaptations

  • Everything in This Country Must — Short film (dir. Gary McKendry, 2004; nominated for Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film)
  • When the Sky Falls — Veronica Guerin biopic (McCann contributed to screenplay)
  • Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom — One-woman show adapted from Joyce's Ulysses (McCann co-wrote)

Translations of Works

  • Let the Great World Spin — translated into 40+ languages (including Japanese)
  • Apeirogon — translated into French, Italian, etc.

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Polyphonic, multi-voiced narrationFragmentary/episodic narrative structuresEmpathy-centered storytelling
Recurring Motifs
migration and travelloss and healingintersection of history and the individualempathy toward others

Legacy

Colum McCann is celebrated as an international writer advocating the 'democracy of storytelling.' His polyphonic narratives and empathy-driven approach have won major literary prizes, and through philanthropic work (Narrative 4) he has contributed to empathy education for young writers and communities.

Academic Societies

  • Aosdána
  • American Academy of Arts and Letters

In Popular Culture

  • Pope Francis quoted McCann in the afterword of a 2022 book
  • Bono praised Apeirogon as among the best recent books he had read

Quotes

  • I believe in the democracy of storytelling.
    Source: Interview (2013, cited in The New York Times) (2013)
  • The best writers attempt to become alternative historians.
    Source: Interview (2013)

Trivia

  • He bicycled across the United States (around 12,000 km) in the late 1980s.
  • Co-founded Narrative 4 (2012), a nonprofit focused on empathy education, and serves as its president.
  • Has described writing in a small, windowless cupboard-like space early in his career.