Interview with author Colm Toibin: from 'Brooklyn' to 'House of Names'

Brooklyn is the movie with Saoirse Ronan

Colm Toibin is the author of Brooklyn (2009). In 2014, the film Brooklyn is based on his novel: the star are Saoirse Ronan, Emory Cohen, Domhnall Gleeson. He published also The Master (2004), The Testament of Mary (2012), Nora Webster (2014), House of Names (2017).

Q. In Brooklyn's novel the theme of the desire for emancipation and how it is blocked by the family appears. When you were writing, did you think of a particular audience?

A. I think it is always a mistake when you are working to think about a particular audience. If you do, you often end up missing that audience. In a way, you work sentence by sentence and often very tentatively and slowly, so all of the concentration has to go on the words themselves.

Q. John Crowley is the director of the film: you have interacted with him or with screenwriter?

A. I had lunch with John Crowley one day, but nothing more than that. I was not in contact with Nick Hornby until he had done the second draft of the screenplay and then I just suggested that he change a few individual words because of Irish usage. Otherwise, I thanked him for what he had done.

Q. What did you feel when the film was nominated for Oscar?

A. It meant a lot because the film then opened in more cinemas and more people saw it.

Q. In "The Testament of Mary", "Nora Webster" you told various charismatic female characters. What is your next project?

A. I am working on a story set in ancient Greece.