Colm Tóibín and Silas House

This conversation features best-selling author Colm Tóibín, interviewed by Silas House, former Kentucky Poet Laureate (2023-2025). They discuss Tóibín’s book “Long Island” before a live audience at the University of Louisville, Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on April 14th, 2025, at the Kentucky Center in Louisville.

Irish novelist, playwright, and essayist Colm Tóibín has written eleven novels, including the most recent, Long Island, which is the quietly heartbreaking sequel to his novel Brooklyn. Tóibín is a Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University and was named the Laureate for Irish Fiction for 2022–2024 by the Arts Council of Ireland. Tóibín has been shortlisted three times for the Booker Prize. Silas House is a bestselling author of seven novels, one book of creative nonfiction, and four plays. His most recent novel, “Lark Ascending”, was a Booklist Editors' Choice and is the winner of the Southern Book Prize, and other honors. His writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Time, The New York Times, and many others.