Description
KEYNOTE ADDRESS:
“Story-telling Across the Divides: How Stories (and Listening) Can Heal our Tired Hearts”
Colum will talk about storytelling in the exponential age. In a world that seems increasingly walled-off and borderless at the same time, how can we use stories and story telling to heal the divisions within our society? Can we expand our sense of what the world is by listening to others? And can this bring about real action on the ground? Can we bring about this change within our school systems and in literature in general? Colum will talk about how the great world does, indeed, spin.
BIOGRAPHY
Colum McCann is the author of seven novels and three collections of stories. Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, he has been the recipient of many international honours, including the National Book Award, the International Dublin Impac Prize, a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres from the French government, election to the Irish arts academy, several European awards, the 2010 Best Foreign Novel Award in China, and an Oscar nomination. In 2017 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts. His work has been published in over 40 languages. He is the co-founder of the non-profit global story exchange organisation, Narrative 4, and he teaches at the MFA program in Hunter College. He lives in New York with his wife, Allison, and their family.
