Colum McCann (born February 28, 1965) is an Irish writer of literary fiction whose novels include Songdogs,This Side of Brightness, Dancer, Zoli and Let the Great World Spin. McCann is a Professor of Contemporary Literature at European Graduate School and Professor of Fiction at CUNY Hunter College's Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing.
His fiction has been published in 30 languages. He has written for numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, GQ, The Times, The Irish Times, Granta, and La Repubblica.
In 2009 McCann was awarded the National Book Award for Let the Great World Spin.
In 2003 he was named as one of Esquire Magazine's "Best and Brightest." He has also been awarded a Pushcart Prize, the Rooney Prize, the Irish Novel of the Year Award and the 2002 Ireland Fund of Monaco Princess Grace Memorial Literary Award. He was recently inducted into the Hennessy Hall of Fame.
His story "Everything in this Country Must" was made into a short film directed by Gary McKendry. It was nominated for an Oscar in 2005.
His novel Let the Great World Spin was published by Random House on 23 June 2009. The novel uses the true story of Philippe Petit as a "pull-through metaphor," and "weaves together a powerful allegory of 9/11." JJ Abrams has optioned the film rights for Let the Great World Spin and has promised to work with McCann on the screenplay.
McCann was born in Dublin in 1965 and began his career as an editor for The Irish Press. He arrived in the United States with the purpose of writing the Great American Novel. In the early 1980s he took a bicycle tour across North America and then worked as a wilderness guide in a program for juvenile delinquents in Texas. He married Allison McCann and moved to Japan, where he lived for a year and a half. He and his wife then moved to New York where they currently reside with their three children, Isabella, John Michael, and Christian. He currently teaches in the Media and Communications Division of European Graduate School and in Hunter College in New York, in its Creative Writing program, with fellow novelists Peter Carey and Nathan Englander.
On June 16, 2009, McCann published a Bloomsday remembrance of his long-deceased grandfather, whom he met only once, and of finding him again in the pages of James Joyce's Ulysses.
McCann holds a BA from the University of Texas. He is married with three children.