Home ⋅ Published Books ⋅ Ship in Full Sail: The Laureate Lectures and Other Writings

Ship in Full Sail: The Laureate Lectures and Other Writings
Share by Email Share on Messenger Share on Whatsapp Share on Whatsapp

By: Colm Tóibín
Publisher: The Gallery Press
Published: September 2025
Pages: 272
Categories: Non-Fiction
Language: English
Available as: Paperback
On sale at:
ISBN-13: 9781917371131

In Ship in Full Sail Colm Tóibín’s ‘Laureate Lectures’ bookend thirty-four crystal clear essays, one written each month in the course of his tenure as Laureate of Irish Fiction. The myriad topics they embrace include Artificial Intelligence, reading Ulysses, the discomfort of Salman Rushdie in the wilds of County Dublin, Bob Dylan in concert, a life of Thom Gunn and the author’s role in a campaign to save the House of The Dead. The lectures themselves ruminate on abiding interests — traditional Irish music and the visual arts. Ship in Full Sail — a veritable cornucopia — offers unmatched insights into the range of thinking and ways of working of one of Ireland’s belovèd writers.

Other Books From this Category

View More From This Category

Other Books From this Author

  • 31 Mar 2026 - Picador

    The News from Dublin: Stories

    By Colm Tóibín

    In The News from Dublin, a beautiful collection of short stories from the bestselling author of Brooklyn and Long Island, Colm Tóibín delves into the days and nights of those living far from home: l...

  • 4 Sep 2025 - Picador

    A Long Winter

    By Colm Tóibín

    An unforgettable story about loss and new love from the bestselling author of Brooklyn and Long Island. One snowy morning, after arguing with her husband, Miquel’s mother walks out from their hom...

  • 16 Aug 2024 - Brandeis University Press

    On James Baldwin

    By Colm Tóibín

    Colm Tóibín’s personal account of encountering James Baldwin’s work, published in Baldwin’s centenary year. Acclaimed Irish novelist Colm Tóibín first read James Baldwin just after turni...

  • 12 Aug 2024 - Harvill Secker

    Paul Durcan 80 at 80

    By Paul Durcan, Niall MacMonagle, Colm Tóibín

  • 1 Feb 2024 - Arlen House

    Distant Summers: Remembering Philip Casey, Writer, Fabulist, Friend

    By Colm Tóibín, Sebastian Barry, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Paula Meehan

    "One of our most beloved contemporary poets", is how former Ireland Professor of Poetry Paula Meehan describes Philip Casey (1950-2018). Cherished by many for his tenderness, fortitude, hope and tenac...

  • 3 Nov 2022 - Penguin

    A Guest at the Feast

    By Colm Tóibín

    A Guest at the Feast uncovers the places where politics and poetics meet, where life and fiction overlap, where one can be inside writing and also outside of it. From the melancholy and amusement w...

  • 31 Mar 2022 - Carcanet Press

    Vinegar Hill

    By Colm Tóibín

    From the highly acclaimed author of Brooklyn, Colm Tóibín's first collection of poetry explores sexuality, religion and belonging through a modern lens. Fans of Colm Tóibín's novels, including ...

  • 23 Sep 2021 - Viking

    The Magician

    By Colm Tóibín

    The Magician tells the story of Thomas Mann, whose life was filled with great acclaim and contradiction. He would find himself on the wrong side of history in the First World War, cheerleading the Ger...

  • 14 May 2017 - Viking

    House of Names

    By Colm Tóibín

    On the day of his daughter's wedding, Agamemnon orders her sacrifice. His daughter is led to her death, and Agamemnon leads his army into battle, where he is rewarded with glorious victory. Th...

  • 5 Nov 2015 - Penguin

    Brooklyn - Movie-tie-in edition

    By Colm Tóibín

    It is Ireland in the early 1950s and for Eilis Lacey, as for so many young Irish girls, opportunities are scarce. So when her sister arranges for her to emigrate to New York, Eilis knows she must go. ...

  • 8 Oct 2015 - Transworld Ireland

    Surviving Ireland

    By Colm Tóibín

    It’s exhausting, being Irish. The constant self-flagellation is enough to put anybody off their breakfast. Why are we so hard on ourselves? Is it the post-colonial overhang following centuries of o...

  • 29 Jan 2015 - Penguin

    Nora Webster

    By Colm Tóibín

    A work of extraordinary achievement. In Nora Webster the slow build-up of pressure, the sense of pain experienced and barely withstood, is cumulatively almost unbearable, and the climax provides a cat...

  • 4 Jul 2013 - Penguin

    The Testament of Mary

    By Colm Tóibín

    The Testament of Mary, a novella of absences and silences, achieves a shimmering power.

  • 7 Mar 2013 - Penguin

    New Ways to Kill Your Mother: Writers and Their Families

    By Colm Tóibín

    In this wonderfully entertaining and enlightening collection, Colm Tóibín not only explores the often tense relationship between writers and their families but also conveys, with a rare tenderness a...

  • 30 Oct 2012 - Scribner Book Company; Reissue edition

    The Heather Blazing

    By Colm Tóibín

    Eamon Redmond is a judge in Ireland's high court, a completely legal creature who is just beginning to discover how painfully unconnected he is from other human beings. With effortless fluency, Colm T...

  • 30 Jun 2011 - Penguin

    The Empty Family: Stories

    By Colm Tóibín

    In the captivating stories that make up The Empty Family Colm Tóibín delineates with a tender and unique sensibility lives of unspoken or unconscious longing, of individuals, often willingly, cast a...

  • 21 May 2010 - Picador

    Bad Blood: A Walk Along The Border

    By Colm Tóibín

    In the summer after the Anglo-Irish Agreement, when tension was high in Northern Ireland, Colm Tóibín walked along the border from Derry to Newry. Bad Blood is a stark and evocative account of this ...

  • 21 May 2010 - Picador

    Homage to Barcelona

    By Colm Tóibín

    This book celebrates one of Europe’s greatest cities – a cosmopolitan hub of vibrant architecture, art, culture and nightlife. It moves from the story of the city’s founding and its huge expansi...

  • 21 May 2010 - Picador

    The Sign of the Cross: Travels in Catholic Europe

    By Colm Tóibín

    Between 1990 and 1994, Colm Tóibín made a series of trips through Catholic Europe. His journey led him into close contact with people from all walks of life, from priests to politicians, from the in...

  • 21 May 2010 - Picador

    Love in a Dark Time: Gay Lives from Wilde to Almodovar

    By Colm Tóibín

    In Love in a Dark Time, Colm Tóibín looks at the life and work of some of the greatest and most influential artists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His subjects range from figures such as...

View More From This Author

About Us

Irish Interest in based on one very simple idea: to bring the contents of any Irish bookshop to people everywhere, especially those outside Ireland who do not have the possibility of keeping abreast of new books published in Ireland. The Irish Interest web platform is purely a provider of information about new publications. The aim of the site is to have every publishing house in Ireland adding their latest titles as they become available. Hyperlinks to each title bring users of the site directly to the publisher's web area or to a sales site where books can be purchased.

Privacy Policy

Irishinterest.ie and its owners strive at all times to preserver the privacy of all personal information stored on its website and servers. Information deemed to be private and confidential will not be communicated to any parties or divulged in any way. Cookies and similar technologies Irishinterest.ie and its owners are not responsible for external data collection entities. Third party sites with access to Irishinterest.ie may be able to acquire or assimilate data. Cookies and similar technologies can be utilized by third parties accessing our site without our knowledge.

Terms & Conditions

Irishinterest.ie, Irishinterest.com, and its owners take no responsibility for information issued on its site that is posted by third parties. It is the sole responsibility of the third parties who utilize the site for publication of any information to ensure that such information is correct and does not infringe laws and the rights of others who may be affected by publication of such information. Disputed material will be removed pending clarification.