Vinegar Hill

Winner of the David Cohen Prize for Literature 2021.

From the highly acclaimed 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, memory and a fading past, and facing mortality.

The poems reflect a life well-travelled and well-lived; from growing up in the town of Enniscorthy, wandering the streets of Dublin and Barcelona, 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 humour, Toibin offers us lines and verses to provoke, ponder and cherish.