The gracious writer

I met him Tuesday night

Occasionally, I go to Hartford’s Mark Twain House and Museum (at their request, I promise; it’s not like I just show up) to sit in front of a crowd and interview famous writers.

On Tuesday, the famous writer was Colm Tóibín (toeBEAN), the Irish laureate and writer. The depth and breadth of his writing — novels, essays, interpretive pieces, reviews, you name it — is stunning. I would know this, as I read quite a lot of what he’s written to prepare to interview him. (I’d say I read everything but there may have been a few pieces I missed.) I also read other interviews as I looked for the nuggets that would make Tuesday’s interview — which is really more a guided conversation — more interesting.