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    Bookworm

    Colm Tóibín: Mothers and Sons

    Colm Tóibín candidly describes the inspirations for the stories in his first collection. Sometimes a landscape is enough to trigger a story, sometimes an anecdote or a bit of family lore.

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    By Michael Silverblatt • Apr 17, 2008 • 30m Listen

    Colm Tóibín candidly describes the inspirations for the stories in his first collection, Mothers and Sons: Stories (Scribner). Sometimes a landscape is enough to trigger a story, sometimes an anecdote or a bit of family lore. Tóibín is unusually forthright in telling the story-behind-the-story, showing us how a work of fiction is made.

    • Read an excerpt from Mothers and Sons.

    Photo: Bruce Weber

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Michael Silverblatt

      host, 'Bookworm'

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      Colm Tóibín

      novelist

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