colum mccann is here. he came to the united states from his native ireland in 19786. his ambition was to live in america and write a novel. seven books later his novel let the great world spin won the national book award in 2009. his new move sell called transatlantic. it spans two continents and 150 years and blends the real with the imagined. i am pleased to have column mccann at this table. welcome. >> i'm so pleased to be here. >> let me just confess, i am in love with this because of the characters i know, on the one hand, characters i'm familiar with. and ireland. this is such an old question. but what does it mean to be irish. >> that's-- that's the original question, that's what we're asking ourselves all along. i mean i suppose what it is, obviously we have this ancient and deep history. we have an ability to sing and an ability to tell the story, an ability, i suppose to live our lives outloud. and i quite like that. and the irish go everywhere. we seem to embrace a lot of different experience. also we have that sort of lurking sadness around. i know you use

. >> sreenivasan: colum mccann, winner of the national book award, talks to jeffrey brown about his latest novel, "transatlantic," which interweaves storylines of three trips from the u.s. to ireland. watch their conversation plus mccan reads an excerpt from his work. sunday will bring a so-called super moon, but maybe it's not so super after all. on lunch in the lab, we debunk the term and offer some tips for moongazing. all that and more is on our website newshour.pbs.org. jeff? >> suarez: and that's the "newshour" for tonight. on monday, we'll look at the latest round of decisions from the supreme court. i'm ray suarez. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. "washington week" can be seen later this evening on most pbs stations. we'll see you online and again here monday evening. have a nice weekend. thanks for joining us. good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possi

"peace is indeed harder than war," the irish author colum mccann recently wrote. "and its constant fragility is part of its beauty. a bullet need happen only once, but for peace to work we need to be reminded of its existence again and again and again." and that's what we need from you. that's what we need from every young person in northern ireland, and that's what we need from every young person around the world. you must remind us of the existence of peace -- the ossibility of peace. ou have to remind us of hope again and again and again. despite resistance, despite setbacks, despite hardship, despite tragedy, you have to remind us of the future again and again and again. i have confidence you will choose that path, you will embrace that task. and to those who choose the path of peace, i promise you the united states of america will support you every step of the way. we will always be a wind at your back. and as i said when i visited two years ago, i am convinced that this little island that inspires the biggest of things -- this little island, its best days ar

the rest, now, is up to you.and "peace is indeed harder than war," the irish author colum mccann recently. "and its constant fragility is part of its beauty. a bullet need happen only once, but for peace to work we need to be reminded of its existence again and again and again." and that's what we need from you. that's what we need from every young person in northern ireland, and that's what we need from every young person around the world. you must remind us of the existence of peace -- the possibility of peace. you have to remind us of hope again and again and again. despite resistance, despite setbacks, despite hardship, despite tragedy, you have to remind us of the future again and again and again. i have confidence you will choose that path, you will embrace that task. and to those who choose the path of peace, i promise you the united states of america will support you every step of the way. we will always be a wind at your back. and as i said when i visited two years ago, i am convinced that this little island that inspires the biggest of things -- this little island, its best days