Colum McCann
Colum McCann
Colum McCannis an Irish writer of literary fiction. He was born in Dublin, Ireland and now lives in New York. He is a Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing in the Master of Fine Arts program at Hunter College, New York with fellow novelists Peter Carey and Tea Obreht, and has visited many universities and colleges all over the world...
NationalityIrish
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth28 February 1965
CountryIreland
dragging good hoping might mysteries poetic profound sort truth ways
If you're a writer, you know there are ways in which we don't know what we're doing at all. We're working out mysteries in a sort of poetic realm, and hoping that if a story is honest, if you're dragging the deep truth out of yourself, then something good and profound might come out of it.
moments time toward
I think we're moving toward moments of grace and understanding. And I think these things take time.
mistake moving pride
Sometimes thinking back on things is a mistake arising out of pride, but I guess you live inside a moment for years, move with it and feel it grow, and it sends out roots until it touches everything in sight.
real thinking doors
I think a good novel can be a doorstop to despair. I also think the real bravery comes with those who prepared to go through that door and look at the world in all its grime and torment, and still find something of value, no matter how small.
literature stories life-is
Literature can remind us that not all life is already written down: there are still so many stories to be told.
body fiction alive
Part of the beauty of fiction is that we come alive in a body that we don't own.
dream time-spent
So much of her time spent like this: dreaming up things to say and never quite saying them.
song wall silly
Let it be. Silly song, really. You let it be, it returns. There's the truth. You let it be, it drags you to the ground. You let it be, it crawls up your walls.
pain giving
Pain's nothing. Pain's what you give, not what you get.
democracy stories
Stories are the best democracy we have. We are allowed to become the other we never dreamed we could be.
whatever-you-say
Whatever you say, say nothing.
steps ordinary moments
How inevitable it is; we step into an ordinary moment and never come out again.
pain forever tea
She was forever tilted sideways by the notion that pain was inevitable, chance was cruel, and all human ingenuity should go towards the making of a good cup of tea.
life people wish
Yet she likes complications. She wishes she could turn and say: I like people who unbalance me.