Photo: Kudosmaker (Seamus Kearney) / CC BY-SA 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
Colum McCann is a screenwriter, novelist and writer, born on February 28, 1965 in Dublin, County Dublin, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Colum McCann is 61 years old as of 2026. Education on record includes University of Texas at Austin. Awards on record include Guggenheim Fellowship, AWB Vincent Literary Award, Rooney Prize for Irish Literature (1994) and 3 more. Notable works include Let the Great World Spin.
My Take
Colum McCann fascinates me because he refuses to sit still in one role: novelist, screenwriter, journalist, teacher. Let the Great World Spin, which won the National Book Award, braids a city's lives around a tightrope walker, and that image of connecting distant points feels like his whole project. Carrying both Dublin's shadows and New York's expanse, he writes fiction that travels, now published in over forty languages. I read that reach as proof of genuine universality rather than mere acclaim, and I keep returning to writers who, like him, build empathy by linking strangers across worlds.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Colum McCann
- Name (Japanese)
- コラム・マッキャン
- Reading
- こらむ・まっきゃん
- Born
- February 28, 1965 (age 61)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Pisces / Snake
- Origin
- Dublin, County Dublin, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
- Occupation
- screenwriter / novelist / writer / journalist / university teacher
2. Background
- University
- University of Texas at Austin
Awards & achievements
- Guggenheim Fellowship
- AWB Vincent Literary Award
- 1994 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature
- 2009 National Book Award
- 2009 National Book Award for Fiction
- 2009 Lucien Barrière Literary Award
3. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | Let the Great World Spin | — |
4. Links
- Official sitehttps://www.colummccann.com
- Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colum%20McCann
- Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q966228
5. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-21
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.
Frequently asked questions
When was Colum McCann born?
Born February 28, 1965 (age 61).
Where is Colum McCann from?
Colum McCann is from Dublin, County Dublin, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
What does Colum McCann do?
Colum McCann works as screenwriter, novelist, writer, journalist, university teacher.
What is Colum McCann known for?
Notable works include Let the Great World Spin.
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