Colm Tóibín, the author behind The Master, recently visited the KQED studios to record an episode of The Writers’ Block, which will be released next week (listen to Colm’s reading here). Until then, get to know him a little better with this Q+A, in which he talks about his favorite San Francisco haunts and what his spirit animal would be.
You’ve spent some time in San Francisco before. What were some of your favorite haunts and why?
Colm Tóibín: I like walking from the Castro to the Mission. I like the Fraenkel Gallery on Geary Street, which is the best gallery for photographs I know. I like the DeYoung Museum because I can see paintings by Richard Diebenkorn. I like Amoeba Records on Haight Street and Serendipity Books in Berkeley.
You’ve confessed to having mixed feelings about your homeland, Ireland. What’s your favorite and least favorite thing about it?
CT: I like the light and the way things grow. I hate the conservative politics.