‘I can make no sense of the present. It is all confusion. I know nothing about the future.’ In his extraordinary new novel, The Magician, Colm Tóibín conjures up the past and the life of writer Thomas Mann. Against the backdrop of two world wars, Colm charts Mann’s rise to prominence and the story of his family life as he grapples with deep seated feelings about his homeland of Germany and his desire for young men. Colm is the award-winning Irish author of nine novels including Brooklyn, Nora Webster and The Testament of Mary. He has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times and has won both the Costa Novel Award and the International Dublin Literary Award. Colm will be in conversation with poet John McAuliffe.

Presented in partnership with Centre for New Writing and Creative Manchester.