Colm Tóibín has been enticed across the Tasman after The Age Melbourne Writers’ Festival. Quel coup for the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival – in an off-year too!

His latest novel, The Master covers five years in the life of Henry James, pretty much warts and all. From the failure of his play Guy Domville to his preoccupation with Oscar Wilde (it is assumed by many that James was gay) it is a novel which apparently 'brings James to life, showing how the forces that shaped his life also shaped his writing’.

Not having read it, we’ve got a couple of pro/con links for you: the Guardian loved it, the Scotsman was er, unmoved (perhaps he'd just read this review – see above). Our own Peter Wells seemed to have enjoyed it, he said so in the Herald in May this year:

Toibin flatters the reader by taking us inside the charmed circle of a genius working his way towards writing a contemporary classic … [Toibin’s] Irishness has given him access to James's ambiguity towards Englishness: Toibin manages to be both critical and yet also pay homage to the real loveliness and charm which still resides in England. And as for James, the emotional being, we see him as perhaps we have never seen him before. A truly Jamesian character, in fact.

Mr Tóibín certainly has his fans. Should be a great opportunity to see an internationally acclaimed writer in his prime, and that’s got to be good for you.

Time to cut to the chase: Monday 30th August, 8pm, tickets $25 adults/$20 students from Ticketek. He’s at the Dorothy Winstone Centre, Auckland Girls’ Grammar School, Howe Street, Freeman’s Bay. Parking is available at Auckland Girls’ Grammar School – Gates 2, 4 or 5 off Howe Street in Freemans Bay. Limited door sales from 7pm.