Students, faculty and fans filed into the Varsity Theater on Feb. 6th, as Marquette welcomed renowned Irish author Colum McCann to give a keynote address in part of Marquette’s Mission Week 2025.
McCann is a 2009 National Book Award winner for his novel “Let the Great World Spin,” and co-founder of Narrative 4, a program in over 500 schools that works to build empathy and connection through exchange of personal stories.
McCann was welcomed by Rev. John Thiede, S.J., University President Kimo Ah Yun and founder of Narrative 4 at Marquette and graduate student in the College of Arts & Sciences, Mara McAndrews, before taking the stage to share his own thoughts on hope and the power of storytelling.
“People say the world is held together with atoms and molecules, and indeed it is, of course… but it is also held together with stories,” McCann said.
McCann read an excerpt from “Let the Great World Spin,” which tells the story of several different intersecting lives connected by Philippe Petit’s 1974 tightrope walk across the Twin Towers, and the novel’s connection with his own experience on 9/11.
“Maybe someday I will be able to negotiate my 9/11 experience by actually writing about something that happened 27 years earlier,” McCann said. “This act of [creation] stood in almost perfect opposition to the act of destruction that we were witnessing at that particular time.”
McCann’s most recent work, “American Mother,” shares the story of Diane Foley, mother of journalist James Foley, Marquette alumnus (class of 1996), who was held captive and murdered by ISIS militants in 2014 while working in Syria. Diane Foley has just been announced as Marquette’s 2025 Commencement Speaker.
“She [Diane Foley] is one of the most extraordinary people who, for me, embodies what we’re talking about today — acting with care, using storytelling to create hope, encourage healing in this broken world, gather up some of the pieces that are scattered around our feet and to bring them back together again to create something that we can hold in palms of our hands,” McCann said.
After his address, McCann sat down for a fireside chat with Marquette English Professor and Campus Director of Narrative 4 at Marquette, Leah Flack.
Flack asked McCann about the importance of moral courage, his recent trip to the Vatican to spend time with Pope Francis and how he stays in a hopeful headspace.
“I really do believe that there is hope out there… and there are times that I feel that way — it’s like I am doing sweet nothing, and I am not having an effect whatsoever,” McCann said. “But then this little breakout of hope comes and then I have to believe it.”
Flack also asked about what McCann carries forward with him almost a year after the release of “American Mother,” and his work with Diane Foley.
“He [James Foley] sits on my shoulders still, and he whispers in my ear. He suggests to me that death takes away a lot of things, but it can’t take away your story,” McCann said.
The event wrapped up as Flack then opened up the floor for questions from the audience, where McCann spoke about overcoming fear when it comes to speaking out, and his choices of narration in “American Mother.”
“I think we’re all throbbing with fear in so many ways, and I think this fear is becoming more and more pervasive. How do you deal with all of that?” McCann said. “I wish I had a good answer, except that you just got to go with your heart, and it’s all visceral, and you try to tell the best story that you possibly can.”
Attendees were able to speak and get their books signed by McCann after the address.
“You can be Greta Thunberg, at the age of 15, and walk out of a classroom and change things, or you can be Diane Foley, at the age of 70, and have this terrible thing happen to you, but still decided to go out and change things,” McCann said. “That is available to all of us, but it takes a huge amount of courage in order to do so.”
A full recording of the address is being created by the College of Communication — this story will be updated with the link once it is available. For more information on Narrative 4 at Marquette, click here.
This story was written by Annie Goode. She can be reached at [email protected].
