The 2026 Cheuse Lecture: Stories of Sanctuary by Colm Tóibín
Author Colm Tóibín will be in conversation with German author and journalist Malte Herwig. The lecture is part of a series focused on the literature of ethics and sanctuary, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Alan Cheuse International Writers Center.
This lecture, celebrating 10 years of the Cheuse Center, is part of a specially curated series of events around ideas of a literature of ethics and sanctuary. The event will highlight Colm Tóibín's 2022 novel The Magician, a fictional biography of Thomas Mann, following his escape from Germany to America through the efforts of Washington Post publisher Agnes Meyer. Tóibín explores stories of refuge and the unlikely forces that keep ideas alive across borders; he reflects on exile, identity, and what it means to seek, and create, refuge through literature.
When: Thursday, April 23 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Where: Stacy C Sherwood Comm Center (3740 Blenheim Blvd, Fairfax, VA 22030)
Price: FREE, with reservation
The Magician opens in a provincial German city at the turn of the twentieth century, where the boy, Thomas Mann, grows up with a conservative father, bound by propriety, and a Brazilian mother, alluring and unpredictable. Young Mann hides his artistic aspirations from his father and his homosexual desires from everyone. He is infatuated with one of the richest, most cultured Jewish families in Munich, and marries the daughter Katia. They have six children. On a holiday in Italy, he longs for a boy he sees on a beach and writes the story Death in Venice. He is the most successful novelist of his time, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature, a public man whose private life remains secret. He is expected to lead the condemnation of Hitler, whom he underestimates. His oldest daughter and son, leaders of Bohemianism and of the anti-Nazi movement, share lovers. He flees Germany for Switzerland, France and, ultimately, America, living first in Princeton and then in Los Angeles.
In this “exquisitely sensitive” (The Wall Street Journal) novel, Tóibín has crafted “a complex but empathetic portrayal of a writer in a lifelong battle against his innermost desires, his family, and the tumultuous times they endure” (Time), and “you’ll find yourself savoring every page” (Vogue).
A New York Times Notable Book, Critic’s Top Pick, and Top Ten Book of Historical Fiction
Named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, NPR, Vogue, The Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg Businessweek
From one of today’s most brilliant and beloved novelists, a dazzling, epic family saga set across a half-century spanning World War I, the rise of Hitler, World War II, and the Cold War that is “a feat of literary sorcery in its own right” (Oprah Daily).
The Alan Cheuse International Writers Center, based at George Mason University, honors the spirit of the late NPR literary critic and dedicated professor Alan Cheuse. It fosters a global writing community by bringing emerging and established international writers to the U.S., supporting MFA students with international travel fellowships, and curating inclusive programming that connects writers, translators, and readers both locally and worldwide.
This event is presented in partnership with George Mason University's Alan Cheuse International Writers Center, Goethe Institut, Arts Fairfax, Fairfax City, Mason Exhibitions, Bards Aley Bookshop, and The Fairfax County Public Library.
Colm Tóibín is the author of eleven novels, including Long Island, an Oprah’s Book Club Pick; The Magician, winner of the Rathbones Folio Prize; The Master, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; Brooklyn, winner of the Costa Book Award; and Nora Webster, winner of the Hawthornden Prize, as well as three story collections and several books of criticism. He is the Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University and was named the 2022–2024 Laureate for Irish Fiction by the Arts Council of Ireland. In 2021, he was awarded the David Cohen Prize for Literature.
