Irish author Colum McCann’s amazingly diverse body of work includes 7 novels and 3 short-story collections. He can’t be boxed in, and the only common element across his stories is the rich, resonant quality of the writing. Basically, he is that rare author who can write engagingly about anything.

His most recent work, the much hailed Booker listed Apeirogon, is an epic novel rooted in the real-life friendship between two fathers- one Palestinian, one Israeli. He uses their lives as impetus for a universal story that crosses centuries and continents, deftly stitching together time, art, history, nature and politics in a tale both devastating and hopeful.

Another compulsory read from McCann is Let The Great World Spin, which won the National Book Award. This is another sweeping epic, this time portraying New York in the 1970s, capturing the spirit of a time of transition, extraordinary promise and, in hindsight, heartbreaking innocence. McCann is a fiercely original talent with unbounded empathy and fearlessness.