In advance of his appearance in Livingston, Montana—as a guest of Elk River Arts & Lectures on January 23, 2026, at the Livingston Elks Lodge—novelist Colum McCann discusses the many themes and narratives found in his latest book, Twist (Penguin Random House).
About the book:
Anthony Fennell, an Irish journalist and playwright, is assigned to cover the underwater cables that carry the world’s information. The sum of human existence—words, images, transactions, memes, voices, viruses—travels through the tiny fiber-optic tubes. But sometimes the tubes break, at an unfathomable depth.
Fennell’s journey brings him to the west coast of Africa, where he uncovers a story about the raw human labor behind the dazzling veneer of the technological world. He meets a fellow Irishman, John Conway, the chief of mission on a cable repair ship. The mysterious Conway is a skilled engineer and a freediver capable of reaching extraordinary depths. He is also in love with a South African actress, Zanele, who must leave to go on her own literary adventure to London.
When the ship is sent up the coast to repair a series of major underwater breaks, both men learn that the very cables they seek to fix carry the news that may cause their lives to unravel. At sea, they are forced to confront the most elemental questions of life, love, absence, belonging, and the perils of our severed connections. Can we, in our fractured world, reweave ourselves out of the thin, broken threads of our pasts? Can the ruptured things awaken us from our despair?
This conversation has been edited for time.
About Colum:
Colum McCann is the internationally bestselling author of the novels Twist, Apeirogon, TransAtlantic, Let the Great World Spin, Zoli, Dancer, This Side of Brightness, and Songdogs, as well as three critically acclaimed story collections and the non-fiction books Letters to a Young Writer and American Mother. A regular contributor to The New York Times, he lives with his family in New York City. He is the co-founder of the global non-profit organization Narrative 4, which operates in 42 countries and uses storytelling to propel community action and change.
Mentioned in this episode:
Underwater cables and the repairmen who fix them
Let the Great World Spin and Apeirogon by Colum McCann (Penguin Random House)
Samuel Beckett’s 1961 interview with Tom F. Driver
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (Penguin Random House)
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Scribner)
Narrative 4, a non-profit Colum co-founded
Trigeminal neuralgia, also called tic douloureux
Nostalgia and “saudade”
Additional authors and texts alluded-to in Twist, and those who have inspired Colum: “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T. S. Eliot, John Steinbeck, Don DeLillo, James Joyce, Toni Morrison, Louise Erdrich
Colum McCann recommends:
Question 7 by Richard Flanagan (Vintage Books)
Zero at the Bone: Fifty Entries Against Despair by Christian Wiman (Picador USA)
The writing of Maria Popova, author of the newsletter The Marginalian
Lauren Korn recommends:
Twist and Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (Penguin Random House)
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Flatiron Books)
The Overstory and Playground by Richard Powers (W. W. Norton & Company)
Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Grove Press)
The Antidote by Karen Russell; listen to Lauren’s conversation with Karen here!
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The Write Question team for this episode was Lauren Korn, host, co-producer, and editor; and Chris Moyles, co-producer, editor, and sound engineer. This episode is supported by Bookworks of Whitefish, offering new books of all genres, stationery, and puzzles. Open 11AM to 6PM Monday through Saturday. Located in downtown Whitefish, Montana, in the Third & Spokane Building.
The Write Question logo and brand (2022) was designed by Molly Russell. You can see more of her work at iamthemollruss.com and on Instagram @iamthemollruss.
Funding for The Write Question comes from members of Montana Public Radio; and from the Greater Montana Foundation—encouraging communication on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans. A hat-tip to Humanities Montana for supporting this program since 2008.
The Write Question is a production of Montana Public Radio.
