In 2009, Colm Tóibín published Brooklyn – a 'beautifully executed novel' (The Times Literary Supplement) that followed Eilis Lacey as she left Ireland for New York in search of a more fulfilling life.
Now, the three-time Booker Prize-shortlisted author returns to his beloved heroine in Long Island. Eilis, now in her forties, is married with children and living in a cul-de-sac surrounded by her husband's family – seemingly settled into the American middle-class dream. But when an unexpected knock at the door shatters this illusion, everything changes.
Featuring an introduction from RMIT University Lecturer in Creative Writing Rebecca Harkins-Cross, Tóibín will join interviewer Sarah L'Estrange for an expansive conversation about his distinguished career and this latest deeply moving addition to his oeuvre – a story permeated with the themes of exile, belonging, desire and regret that have come to define his remarkable body of writing.
Presented by RMIT University, in partnership with The Wheeler Centre and Melbourne Writers Festival.
RMIT are back for RMIT Games Day 2026 tournaments!
Chloe Rose Thomas’ exhibition, 'Can I Hold You?' centres on queer community and embodied practices of care, exploring what it means to take traditional photographic portraits of non-normative bodies and the histories they represent.
Elisa Zorraquin’s exhibition Boiling Matters draws on her background in contemporary jewellery and industrial design. She creates participatory works that engage both body and soul, initiating encounters between individuals who might not otherwise meet.
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.
Learn more about our commitment to Indigenous cultures
