Vinegar Hill: Poems

From the New York Times best-selling author of Brooklyn, Colm Toibin’s first collection of poetry explores sexuality, religion, and belonging through a modern lens

Fans of Colm Toibin’s novels, including The Magician, The Master, and Nora Webster, will relish the opportunity to re-encounter Toibin in verse. Vinegar Hill explores the liminal space between private experiences and public events as Toibin examines a wide range of subjects-politics, queer love, reflections on literary and artistic greats, living through COVID, and facing mortality. The poems reflect a life well-traveled and well-lived; from growing up in the town of Enniscorthy, wandering the streets of Dublin, and crossing the bridges of Venice to visiting the White House, readers will travel through familiar locations and new destinations through Toibin’s unique lens.

Within this rich collection of poems written over the course of several decades, shot through with keen observation, emotion, and humor, Toibin offers us lines and verses to provoke, ponder, and cherish.