Irish author, Edna O’Brien, dies aged 93

Acclaimed Irish author, Edna O’Brien, has passed away at the age of 93. The novelist, memoirist, playwright, poet and short-story writer, who is best known for her first novel ‘The Country Girls’ – published in 1960 – reportedly died peacefully on Saturday 27th July, after a long illness. Her literary agent, PFD, and publisher, Faber, shared the sad news adding that their thoughts were with her “family and friends, in particular her sons Marcus and Carlo”.

O’Brien was born (Josephine Edna O’Brien) in rural County Clare on 15th December 1930. Her education by the Sisters of Mercy at the Convent of Mercy boarding school, and her childhood, she described as “suffocating”, and she “rebelled against the coercive and stifling religion into which I was born and bred.” As a result, she moved to Dublin to escape. She also spent much of her life in London.

Her first novel, The Country Girls caused great scandal in Ireland for its portrayal of female sexuality, in its account of two female friends who leave the safety of a convent school in search of exciting lives and love in the city. This novel, and the two that followed in the trilogy – The Lonely Girl and Girls in their Married Bliss – were banned by the Irish Government and some copies were even burnt, including in O’Brien’s home village.

Despite this, the books became a huge success, namely due to the ways in which they challenged traditional, societal views and standards. During her career, O’Brien wrote more than 20 novels, as well as dramas, poetry, biographies, and short stories, and she was awarded numerous awards including the 2011 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, the 2019 David Cohen Prize for Literature, and in 2018 she was appointed an honorary Dame of the Order of the British Empire for her contribution to literature.

In a statement, the current president of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, said: “Enda O’Brien has been one of the outstanding writers of modern times, her work has been sought as [a] model all around the world.

“Edna was a fearless teller of truths, a superb writer possessed of the moral courage to confront Irish society with realities long ignored and suppressed.

“Through that deeply insightful work, rich in humanity, Edna O’Brien was one of the first writers to provide a true voice to the experiences of women in Ireland in their different generations and played an important role in transforming the status of women across Irish society.

“While the beauty of her work was immediately recognised abroad, it is important to remember the hostile reaction it provoked among those who wished for the lived experience of women to remain far from the world of Irish literature, with her books shamefully banned upon their early publication.

“Thankfully Edna O’Brien’s work is now recognised for the superb works of art which they are.”