Colum McCann is an Irish-born US writer. Born in Dublin in 1965, he settled in with his family in New York, where he teaches creative writing at the Hunter College. He is regarded as one of the top novelists of the last decades worldwide. In 2009 he was awarded the National Book Award thanks to the bestselling Let the Great World Spin, translated in over 35 languages and winning many prizes. His inspirational figures include Michael Ondaatje, John Berger, Don DeLillo, E.L Doctorow, Edna O'Brien and Benedict Kiely. His narrative is appreciated for his ability tell the complex geographies of a globalized world, with special attention to the marginalized characters in history. «I grew up in a home, a city, a country shaped by books» – he claimed in an interview – «and I feel extremely privileged to be able to tell or listen to a story, because a story is the only thing one has to triumph over life itself.» All his works, included the latest Apeirogron (2021), are going to be published in Italy by Feltrinelli.

(photo: © Giliola Chistè)