A Night of Irish Storytelling with Colm Tóibín
2026-04-21 19:00 UTC | Centre for Fiction, 15 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, NY 11217, United States
Join us for an evening with Colm Tóibín, the award-winning author of Brooklyn and Long Island, as he visits The Center to regale us with stories written by himself and the late, under-recognized Irish American author, Mary Lavin.
Tóibín has earned international acclaim for his precise, compassionate prose and his ability to illuminate the private edges of history. A regular contributor to the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and the New York Review of Books, and a professor at Columbia University, he has shaped contemporary Irish literature while mentoring and inspiring generations of writers. His newest collection, The News from Dublin, marks a long-anticipated return to short fiction.
Spanning Ireland, Spain, and America, these stories trace families caught in the currents of loss and longing, from a mother delivering devastating wartime news to a brother fighting for a dying sibling’s chance at survival. Spare yet emotionally expansive, they demonstrate Tóibín’s unmatched gift for rendering ordinary lives with extraordinary depth.
Alongside his new work, Tóibín will also introduce An Arrow in Flight, a curated selection of stories by Mary Lavin, the Irish-American writer once hailed as a master in the lineage of Chekhov and Wharton. Widely celebrated in her time yet now under-recognized, Lavin wrote with sharp humor and profound emotional intelligence about marriage, family, and the pressures of mid-century Irish life. Tóibín’s advocacy helps restore her rightful place in the canon, shining new light on a writer whose influence can still be felt in contemporary fiction.
Join Tóibín as he reflects on the intimacy, rigor, and enduring power of the short story and on the voices, past and present, that continue to shape Irish literature.

An Evening with Colm Tóibín
2026-04-27 19:00 - 20:00 | New Canaan Library, 151 Main Street, New Canaan,, CT, CT 06840, United States
New Canaan Library is pleased to present author Colm Tóibín for a special evening celebrating his latest work. Hailed as one of the world’s best living literary writers” (The Boston Globe), Tóibín’s new work, The News from Dublin, is a collection of nine short stories, many never-before-published, set across Ireland, Spain, and America—about the complexities of family, longing, loss, and love.
Celebrated as “his generation’s most gifted writer of love’s complicated, contradictory power” (Los Angeles Times), Colm Tóibín is a master of short fiction as well as the novel, able to summon an extraordinary intensity of emotion in a brief tale. The eleven stories transport readers across continents and eras. The News from Dublin is an exquisite introduction to Tóibín’s short fiction for new readers who may have discovered Tóibín with the publication of Long Island, and a glorious new collection for longtime fans of this “achingly beautiful writer…with infinite compassion” (The Miami Herald).
Colm Tóibín is the author of eleven novels, including Long Island, an Oprah’s Book Club Pick; The Magician, winner of the Rathbones Folio Prize; The Master, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; Brooklyn, winner of the Costa Book Award; and Nora Webster; as well as two story collections and several books of criticism. He is the Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University and was named the 2022–2024 Laureate for Irish Fiction by the Arts Council of Ireland. He was shortlisted three times for the Booker Prize. He was also awarded the Bodley Medal, the Würth Prize for European Literature, and the Prix Femina spécial for his body of work.

An evening with Colm Tóibín in conversation with Sarah Kavanagh
2026-04-29 19:00 | The Coral Gables Congregational Church, 3010 De Soto Blvd., Coral Gables,, FL, FL 33134, United States
Join us for an evening with author Colm Tóibín and Consul General of Ireland, Sarah Kavanagh, as we discuss Tóibín’s newest novel, The News From Dublin (Scribner, $29). This new collection of short stories highlights the brilliant compassion, majesty, and complexities of Tóibín’s storytelling abilities as he tackles themes of family dynamics, haunted pasts, love, desire, the aftermath of war, and the quiet struggle of banality in daily life.
🎟 Free & open to the public · RSVP recommended · Books will be available for purchase at the event.

Colm Tóibín - The News from Dublin
2026-04-30 18:30 - 20:00 | Parnassus Books, 3900 Hillsboro Pike Suite 14, Nashville,, TN, TN 37215, United States
Parnassus Books is thrilled to present an evening with Colm Tóibín, to celebrate his new book, The News From Dublin: Stories.
This ticketed event will take place at Parnassus Books (3900 Hilllsboro Pike, Suite 14, Nashville, TN 37215) on Thursday, April 30th, at 6:30 PM.
Tickets:
$32.00 – includes one general admission seat and one signed copy of The News From Dublin. All books will be pre-signed, and there will be a signing line for personalizations after the event.
From Colm Tóibín, “one of the world’s best living literary writers” (The Boston Globe), comes a brilliant collection of nine short stories, many never-before-published, set across Ireland, Spain, and America–about the complexities of family, longing, loss, and love.
Celebrated as “his generation’s most gifted writer of love’s complicated, contradictory power” ( Los Angeles Times), Colm Tóibín is a master of short fiction as well as the novel, able to summon an extraordinary intensity of emotion in a brief tale. The eleven stories transport readers across continents and eras.
In “The Journey to Galway,” a mother who has learned of the death of her son, a fighter pilot in World War I, travels to Galway to inform his wife and their three now fatherless children. “Sleep,” originally published in The New Yorker, explores the rift between two lovers as one of them cannot reckon with his grief and fear after the death of his brother. Death, again, is a central character in the title story, “The News from Dublin,” as Maurice Webster travels to Dublin to try to save his younger brother who is dying of tuberculosis. Maurice must petition the health minister for access to a new experimental drug, and this is the only hope.
Tóibín’s stories are rich with the complexities of family dynamics, the haunting pull of the past, and the quiet revelations that define our lives. His characters, whether navigating the aftermath of war, or forbidden love, or the desires of a girl in Catalan, or the quiet struggles mundane life, are rendered with illuminating, unforgettable empathy and insight.
The News from Dublin is an exquisite introduction to Tóibín’s short fiction for new readers who may have discovered Tóibín with the publication of Long Island, and a glorious new collection for longtime fans of this “achingly beautiful writer…with infinite compassion” ( The Miami Herald).

The News from Dublin comes to Dublin…
2026-05-24 19:00 - 20:30 | International Literature Festival Dublin, Speranza, Merrion Square, Dublin 2, Ireland
The News from Dublin comes to Dublin… A master of understated emotions, the bestselling author of Brooklyn and Long Island returns to ILFD with a beautiful new collection of short stories.
“A subtle, intelligent and deeply felt writer.” Guardian
A woman in Galway hears of the death of her son in the First World War. An Irishman seeks anonymity in Barcelona, haunted by crimes he has committed. A man goes to Dublin from Enniscorthy to implore the Minister for Health for a special favour. A young woman is pregnant during the Spanish Civil War. An undocumented worker finds himself living an illegal life and must leave San Francisco, and his child, after thirty years in America. Three sisters who have been living in Argentina decide to return to Catalonia…There are few authors more attuned to human yearning than Colm Tóibín. In The News from Dublin he delves into the days and nights of those living far from home: lives of great longing, at a great distance from past lives and past selves.
Colm Tóibín is the author of eleven novels, including The Master, Brooklyn and its sequel Long Island, and The Magician, and three collections of stories. He has been three times shortlisted for the Booker Prize. In 2021, he was awarded the David Cohen Prize for Literature. Between 2022 and 2024 he was the Laureate for Irish Fiction.

Colm Tóibín in Conversation with Tomás Kenny at Kennys Bookshop
2026-05-25 18:00 - 20:00 | Kennys Bookshop & Galleries, Liosbán Retail Park, Tuam Road, Galway, H91 N5P8, Ireland
Award-winning Irish writer Colm Tóibín will be at Kennys Bookshop on May 25th, joining Tomás Kenny in conversation about The News From Dublin.
Tickets for this event are free but are limited, and you can book below.
Colm Tóibín, one of Ireland’s most celebrated writers, is the author of 11 novels, including The Master, Brooklyn and The Magician. A three-time Booker Prize nominee and the Laureate for Irish Fiction 2022–2024, Tóibín’s work spans fiction, essays, poetry, and drama.
About The News from Dublin:
In The News from Dublin, a beautiful collection of short stories delves into the days and nights of those living far from home: lives of great longing, at a great distance from past lives and past selves.
A woman in Galway hears of the death of her son in the First World War. An Irishman seeks anonymity in Barcelona, haunted by crimes he has committed. A man goes to Dublin from Enniscorthy to implore the Minister for Health for a special favour. A young woman is pregnant during the Spanish Civil War. An undocumented worker finds himself living an illegal life and must leave San Francisco, and his child, after thirty years in America. Three sisters who have been living in Argentina decide to return to Catalonia.
Pre-order The News from Dublin:
The Kennys Exclusive Signed Limited Edition of The News from Dublin is available for pre-order here. Copies will be available to buy at the event. This hardback edition, with design exclusive to Kennys, is limited to 1,000 copies and is signed and numbered by the author.

If you have any questions on this event or would like to be notified of other events at Kennys Bookshop, please email martha@kennys.ie.
We look forward to seeing you there!
