Toíbín, Colm (1955– )

Irish writer. Toíbín uses a delicate minimalist style to tell stories of troubled, modern characters struggling to find love and a sense of belonging. The Heather Blazing (1993) is set in Ireland, but The Story of the Night (1996) and The South (1990; Irish Times/Aer Lingus Award) have protagonists wandering the world, seeking to rectify a sense of lost origins. The Master (2004), about US writer Henry James, won the 2006 IMPAC Prize, and this novel, as well as The South and The Blackwater Lightship (2000), about a young man dying of AIDS, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

Born in County Wexford, Toíbín became a travel writer, English teacher, and journalist before turning to novels.