Colm Toibin
Colm Tóibín (Irish pronunciation: [ˈkɔl ˠəmˠ t ˠoːˈbʲiːnʲ] [KAH-lum toe-BEEN]; born 30 May 1955) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic and poet. Tóibín is currently Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University and succeeded Martin Amis as professor of creative writing at the University of Manchester. He was hailed as a champion of minorities as he collected the 2011 Irish PEN Award. In 2011, he was named one of Britain's Top 300 Intellectuals by The Observer.