Colum McCann

Colum McCann
May, 2009 – Lyon, France.
Born	Colum McCann 28 February 1965 (1965-02-28) (age 46) Dublin, Ireland
Occupation	Writer
Nationality	Irish
Period	Postmodern literature
Genres	Literary fiction
Notable work(s)	Let the Great World Spin, Zoli, Dancer
Notable award(s)	Rooney Prize, Novel of the Year Award, National Book Award, International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
Influences Dylan Thomas, James Joyce, Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, J.D. Salinger, John Steinbeck, Theodore Dreiser, William Faulkner, Don DeLillo, E. L. Doctorow

Colum McCann speaking at the International Forum on the Novel in Lyon, France – May, 2009.

Colum McCann (born 28 February 1965) is an Irish writer of literary fiction. He is a Professor of Contemporary Literature at European Graduate School^[1] and Professor of Fiction at CUNY Hunter College's Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing^[2] with fellow novelists Peter Carey, twice winner of the Man Booker Prize, and Nathan Englander.^[3]

McCann's fiction has been published in 30 languages.^[3] His novels include Songdogs, This Side of Brightness, Dancer, Zoli and Let the Great World Spin. He has written for numerous newspapers and periodicals, including The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, GQ, The Times, The Irish Times, Granta,^[4] and La Repubblica. His short story "Everything in this Country Must" was made into a short film directed by Gary McKendry. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 2005.

In 2003 McCann was named Esquire Magazine's "Best and Brightest" young novelist. He has also been awarded a Pushcart Prize, the Rooney Prize, the Irish Novel of the Year Award and the 2002 Ireland Fund of Monaco Princess Grace Memorial Literary Award. He was recently inducted into the Hennessy Hall of Fame.^[5]

His novel Let the Great World Spin (2009), uses the true story of Philippe Petit as a "pull-through metaphor," and "weaves together a powerful allegory of 9/11."^[3] The novel has won numerous honours, notably the National Book Award^[6] and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. J. J. Abrams has optioned the film rights and has promised to work with McCann on the screenplay. In 2010, McCann and musician Joe Hurley cowrote a song-cycle – “The House That Horse Built (Let the Great World Spin)” – based on the character of Tillie. ^[7]

Biography

McCann was born in Dublin in 1965 and began his career as a reporter for The Irish Press. He arrived in the United States with the purpose of writing the Great American Novel. In 1986 he took a bicycle tour across North America and then worked as a wilderness guide in a program for juvenile delinquents in Texas. In 1992 he married Allison Hawke and moved to Japan, where the McCanns lived for a year and a half. He and his wife then moved to New York where they currently reside with their three children, Isabella, John Michael, and Christian.

On 16 June 2009, McCann published a Bloomsday remembrance of his long-deceased grandfather, whom he met only once, and of finding him again in the pages of James Joyce's Ulysses.^[8]

McCann holds a BA from the University of Texas.^[9]

On 15 June 2011, it was announced that Colum McCann had won the 2011 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the most lucrative literary award in the world.^[10] It was only the second time that an author of Irish origin had won the award.^[11] McCann won the award for his novel Let the Great World Spin.^[12][13] Among the judges were John Boyne and Michael Hofmann.^[14] The judging panel described the book as a "remarkable literary work [...] a genuinely 21st century novel that speaks to its time but is not enslaved by it", noting the book's opening pages in which "the people of New York city stand breathless and overwhelmed as a great artist dazzles them in a realm that seemed impossible until that moment; Colum McCann does the same thing in this novel, leaving the reader just as stunned as the New Yorkers, just as moved and just as grateful".^[15] Lord Mayor of Dublin Gerry Breen said it was "wonderful and fitting to have a Dublin winner in the year that Dublin was awarded UNESCO City of Literature designation, a designation in perpetuity".^[14] Interviewed afterwards, McCann praised fellow nominated writers William Trevor and Yiyun Li, suggesting that either would have been worthy winners.^[16]

Bibliography

• Fishing the Sloe-Black River (1994)
• Songdogs (1995)
• This Side of Brightness (1998)
• Everything in this Country Must (2000)
• Dancer (2003)
• Zoli (2006)
• Let the Great World Spin (2009)

References

1. ^ Colum McCann. "Colum McCann Faculty Profile at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland". http://www.egs.edu/faculty/colum-mccann/biography/. Retrieved 23 June 2010. 
2. ^ "Hunter College Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing". http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/creativewriting/. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} Colum McCann. "About Colum McCann". http://www.colummccann.com/about.htm. Retrieved 8 December 2009. 
4. ^ "National Book Award 2009". Granta. 19 November 2009. http://www.granta.com/Online-Only/Colum-McCann. Retrieved 21 January 2010. 
5. ^ World Voices Festival. 26 April – 2 May 2010
6. ^ Flood, Alison (19 November 2009). "Colum McCann wins National Book award for fiction". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/nov/19/colum-mccann-national-book-award-fiction. Retrieved 19 November 2009. 
7. ^ Philbrook, Erik (August 2010), "The House That Horse Built (Let The Great World Spin)", Blog Horizonvu Music, http://blog.horizonvumusic.com/?tag=the-house-that-horse-built-let-the-great-world-spin, retrieved 25 May 2011 
8. ^ "But Always Meeting Ourselves" by Colum McCann, The New York Times, 15 June 2009 (16 June 2009 on OpEd p. A21 of the NY ed.). Retrieved 6/16/09.
9. ^ Faculty listing Hunter College. Retrieved 6/16/09.
10. ^ "Irish author McCann wins IMPAC Dublin Award". CBC News. 15 June 2011. http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/06/15/impac-mccann-winner.html. Retrieved 15 June 2011. 
11. ^ "Irish author Colum McCann wins lucrative literary award". BBC News. 15 June 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13778903. Retrieved 15 June 2011. 
12. ^ "Colum McCann wins IMPAC Dublin Award". Los Angeles Times. 16 June 2011. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/06/colum-mccann-wins-impac-dublin-award.html. Retrieved 16 June 2011. 
13. ^ Bosman, Julie (16 June 2011). "Colum McCann Wins Rich Novel Prize". The New York Times. http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/16/colum-mccann-wins-richest-novel-prize/. Retrieved 16 June 2011. 
14. ^ ^{a b} Flood, Alison (16 June 2011). "Colum McCann wins 2011 Impac Dublin prize". The Guardian. UK. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/16/colum-mccann-2011-impac-prize. Retrieved 16 June 2011. 
15. ^ Taylor, Charlie (15 June 2011). "Colum McCann wins Impac award". The Irish Times. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0615/breaking34.html. Retrieved 15 June 2011. 
16. ^ Battersby, Eileen (16 June 2011). "'I decided to write the great Irish novel but couldn't. I wasn't messed-up enough'". The Irish Times. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2011/0616/1224298993543.html. Retrieved 16 June 2011. 

Books about Colum McCann

• Cusatis, John. Understanding Colum McCann. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2011.(Online excerpt)

External links

• Official website
• Colum McCann. Faculty Profile at European Graduate School Biography, bibliography, photos and video lectures
• Video Interview: Adventures in the Skin Trade PEN World Voices at LIVE from the New York Public Library 4 May 2008
• Radio interview on Bookworm, 22 March 2007
• Powells.com interview
• "Colum McCann's top 10 novels on poets," The Guardian, 3 October 2006
• Identity Theory interview
• Poets & Writers interview, 14 March 2003
• The Morning News interview, 3 May 2007
• Small Talk: Colum McCann, Financial Times, 29 August 2009
• Two Interviews, The Stinging Fly
• Interview in The Irish Times after 2011 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award win

Persondata
Name	Maccann, Colum
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	28 February 1965
Place of birth	Dublin, Ireland
Date of death
Place of death