Colum McCann on fiction and responsibility

Irish author Colum McCann tells Sebastian Fasthuber about the disappearing lines between fiction and truth, and about his novel "Zoli," whose heroine is a Romany poet. "You always hear: Write what you know. When I came to the USA from Ireland a good 20 years ago, I wanted to become a writer. So I rode my bicycle through all the states of the union for a year and a half to get some experience. And I got the experience. But I haven't written about it to this very day. Instead, I put myself into others' shoes. Why?  I probably feel a kind of responsibility to give voice to rarely or seldom told stories. There are so many millions of Romany, but so few good stories that have been recorded. And particularly few about Romany women... But it's not only about the Romany people. For me, it is essentially a story about how the individual stands up to the powers that be."

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