Anthologies#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| New Writing From Ireland |
1994 |
Buy |
| Finbar’s Hotel |
1997 |
Buy |
| The Modern Library: The 200 Best Novels in English Since 1950 |
1999 |
Buy |
| The Penguin Book of Irish Fiction |
1999 |
Buy |
| New Writing 11 |
2002 |
Buy |
| The Weekenders: Adventures in Calcutta |
2004 |
Buy |
| The Proust Project |
2004 |
Buy |
| Synge |
2005 |
Buy |
| The O. Henry Prize Stories 2006 |
2006 |
Buy |
| Midsummer Nights |
2009 |
Buy |
| From the Republic of Conscience |
2010 |
Buy |
| The Best of Barcelona INK |
2012 |
Buy |
| A London Address |
2013 |
Buy |
| 1914 - Goodbye to All That |
2014 |
Buy |
| That Glimpse of Truth |
2014 |
Buy |
| All Over Ireland: New Irish Short Stories |
2015 |
Buy |
Collections#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Mothers and Sons |
2006 |
Buy |
| The Empty Family |
2010 |
Buy |
| Vinegar Hill: Poems |
2022 |
Buy |
| The News from Dublin |
2026 |
Buy |
Eilis Lacey Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Brooklyn |
2009 |
Buy |
| Long Island |
2024 |
Buy |
Non-Fiction#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Seeing Is Believing |
1985 |
Buy |
| Walking Along the Border |
1987 |
Buy |
| Bad Blood |
1988 |
Buy |
| Homage to Barcelona |
1990 |
Buy |
| Dubliners |
1990 |
Buy |
| Trial of the Generals |
1990 |
Buy |
| The Sign of the Cross |
1994 |
Buy |
| The Guinness Book Of Ireland |
1995 |
Buy |
| The Kilfenora Teaboy |
1996 |
Buy |
| Conversations and Portraits |
1997 |
Buy |
| The Irish Famine |
1999 |
Buy |
| Love in a Dark Time |
2002 |
Buy |
| Lady Gregory’s Toothbrush |
2002 |
Buy |
| Ireland |
2008 |
Buy |
| All a Novelist Needs |
2010 |
Buy |
| New Ways to Kill Your Mother |
2012 |
Buy |
| On Elizabeth Bishop |
2015 |
Buy |
| Henry James and American Painting |
2017 |
Buy |
| Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know |
2018 |
Buy |
| Sean Scully: Walls of Aran |
2020 |
Buy |
| A Guest at the Feast |
2023 |
Buy |
| On James Baldwin |
2024 |
Buy |
Plays#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Beauty in a Broken Place |
2004 |
Buy |
Short Stories/Novellas#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| The Use of Reason |
2006 |
Buy |
| The Shortest Day |
2020 |
Buy |
| A Long Winter |
2025 |
Buy |
Standalone Novels#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| The South |
1990 |
Buy |
| The Heather Blazing |
1992 |
Buy |
| The Story of the Night |
1996 |
Buy |
| The Blackwater Lightship |
1999 |
Buy |
| The Master |
2004 |
Buy |
| The Testament of Mary |
2012 |
Buy |
| Nora Webster |
2014 |
Buy |
| House of Names |
2017 |
Buy |
| The Magician |
2021 |
Buy |
Writers on Writers Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Notes on Sontag |
2009 |
Buy |
| On Whitman |
2010 |
Buy |
| On Conan Doyle |
2011 |
Buy |
| What W. H. Auden Can Do for You |
2013 |
Buy |
| On Elizabeth Bishop |
2015 |
Buy |
| On Empson |
2017 |
Buy |
| On Henry Miller: Or, How to Be an Anarchist |
2018 |
Buy |
| On Seamus Heaney |
2020 |
Buy |
| On Tim Winton |
2022 |
N/A |
Colm Toibin grew up in Enniscorthy, County Wexford, and that small Irish town has shaped much of his fiction. His novels often deal with solitude, family duty, and the tension between staying home and leaving. Brooklyn, his most widely read book, follows a young woman torn between her new life in America and her obligations back in Ireland.
Beyond fiction, Toibin is a busy critic and essayist. He has written books about Henry James, Elizabeth Bishop, and the Irish famine, along with travel writing about Barcelona and the Irish border. His work crosses freely between novels, short stories, poetry, plays, and literary criticism. He has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many books has Colm Tóibín written?
Colm Tóibín has written 66 books across eight series.
What was Colm Tóibín's first book?
Colm Tóibín’s first book is Seeing Is Believing, published in 1985.
What is Colm Toibin best known for?
He is best known for Brooklyn, a 2009 novel about an Irish immigrant in 1950s New York, which was adapted into an acclaimed film in 2015.