Colm Tóibín was born in Ireland in 1955. He is the author of eight novels, most recently Nora Webster. His novel, Brooklyn, won the 2009 Costa Novel of the Year. The Master was shortlisted for the 2004 Man Booker Prize and winner of the LA TimesBook Prize and the IMPAC Book Award, and The Blackwater Lightship was shortlisted for the 1999 Booker Prize and the 2001 IMPAC Award. His non-fiction includes Bad Blood, Homage to Barcelona, The Sign of the Cross and Love in a Dark Time. He is also the author of two short-story collections,Mothers and Sons, which was awarded the inaugural Edge Hill Prize, and The Empty Family, which was shortlisted for the 2011 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award. His work has been translated into seventeen languages. He lives in Dublin.