''The Blackwater Lightship'' is a
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
novel written by
Irish novelist Colm Tóibín
Colm Tóibín (, approximately ; born 30 May 1955) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist, critic, playwright and poet.
His first novel, '' The South'', was published in 1990. '' The Blackwater Lightship'' was shortlis ...
. It was shortlisted for the
Booker Prize.
Tóibín conceived the book while traveling in Spain and, as he did not have access to a typewriter, bought a pen and notebook, which prompted his return to writing in