Colum MCCann

Colum McCann (Dublin, February 28, 1965) is an Irish writer. After beginning his career as a journalist for The Irish Press, he moved to the United States, where he worked as a wilderness guide in Texas and lived for a period in Japan. He resides in New York with his wife Allison and their three children.

He is the author of six novels and three short story collections. Among his best-known works is Let the Great World Spin, winner of the National Book Award and the International Dublin Literary Award. The novel TransAtlantic was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, while Apeirogon received widespread international acclaim.

In 2025 he published Twist, which explores themes such as the vulnerability of global digital infrastructure and human connection through the story of a journalist aboard a ship engaged in repairing undersea internet cables.

Among his titles published in Italy by Feltrinelli are: Apeirogon (2021), TransAtlantico (2021), Let the Great World Spin (2022), Dancer (2022), This Side of Brightness (2023), Everything in This Country Must (2023), and A Mother (2024).

In addition to the awards mentioned, McCann has received numerous international honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and several literary prizes in Ireland and the United States.

Twist was presented in Italy at BookCity Milano in November 2025, on which occasion McCann received the Seal of the City of Milan. In January 2025 he spoke at the Aula Paolo VI in the Vatican for the Jubilee of Communication, in dialogue with Maria Ressa on the theme of narrating hope. Between January and February 2025 he also delivered the public lecture “I Stand in Stories” at the Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence.

In 2017 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is co-founder of Narrative 4, active in over 40 countries with educational programs promoting empathy through the exchange of stories, and he teaches in the MFA program at Hunter College.