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Edna O'Brien

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Edna O'Brien

DBE
O'Brien in 2016
O'Brien in 2016
BornJosephine Edna O'Brien
(1930-12-15)15 December 1930
Tuamgraney, County Clare, Ireland
Died27 July 2024(2024-07-27) (aged 93)
London, England
Resting placeInis Cealtra, County Clare
Occupation
  • Novelist
  • memoirist
  • playwright
  • poet
  • short-story writer
LanguageEnglish
Period1960–2019
Notable works
Notable awards
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1954; div. 1964)​
Children2, including Carlo Gébler

Josephine Edna O'Brien DBE (15 December 1930 – 27 July 2024) was an Irish novelist, memoirist, playwright, poet and short-story writer.

O'Brien's works often revolve around the inner feelings of women and their problems relating to men and society as a whole. Her first novel, The Country Girls (1960), has been credited with breaking silence on sexual matters and social issues during a repressive period in Ireland after the Second World War. The book was banned and denounced from the pulpit. Many of her novels were translated into French. Her memoir, Country Girl, was published in 2012, and her last novel, Girl, was published in 2019. Many of her novels were based in Ireland, but Girl was a fictional account of a victim of the 2014 Chibok kidnapping in Nigeria.

In 2015, she was elected to Aosdána by her fellow artists and honoured with the title Saoi. She was the recipient of many other awards and honours, winning the Irish PEN Award in 2001 and the biennial David Cohen Prize in 2019. France made her a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2021. Her short story collection Saints and Sinners won the 2011 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the world's richest prize for that genre.

Early life and education

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Josephine Edna O'Brien was born on 15 December 1930[1] to farmer[2] Michael O'Brien and Lena Cleary, at Tuamgraney in County Clare, Ireland, a place she would later describe as "fervid" and "enclosed". She was the youngest child of "a strict, religious family". They lived at "Drewsborough" (also "Drewsboro"), a "large two-storey house", which her mother kept in "semi-grandeur".[3] Michael O'Brien, "whose family had seen wealthier times" as landowners,[4] had inherited a "thousand acres or more" and "a fortune from rich uncles", but was a "profligate" hard-drinker who gambled away his inheritance, the land "sold off in bits ... or bartered to pay debts".[5] Her mother, Lena, "came from a poorer background".[6] According to O'Brien, her mother was a strong, controlling woman, who had emigrated temporarily to America and worked for some time as a maid in Brooklyn, New York, for a well-off Irish-American family, before returning to Ireland to raise her family.[7]

From 1941 to 1946, O'Brien was educated at St. Raphael's College, a boarding school run by the Sisters of Mercy[7] in Loughrea, County Galway,[8] a circumstance that contributed to a "suffocating" childhood. She recalled: "I rebelled against the coercive and stifling religion into which I was born and bred. It was very frightening and all-pervasive. I'm glad it has gone."[9] Because she deeply missed her mother, she became fond of a nun and tried to identify the nun with herself.[10]

In 1950, having studied at night at a pharmaceutical college and worked in a Dublin pharmacy during the day,[11] O'Brien was awarded a licence as a pharmacist.[12]

Career

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In Ireland, O'Brien read such writers as Tolstoy, Thackeray, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.[12] In Dublin, she bought Introducing James Joyce, with an introduction written by T. S. Eliot, and said later that when she learned that James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man was autobiographical, it made her realise where she might turn, should she want to write herself. "Unhappy houses are a very good incubation for stories," she said.[9]

In London, she started work as a reader for Hutchinson, where, based on her reports, she was commissioned for £50 to write a novel. She published her first book, The Country Girls, in 1960.[13] It was the first part of a trilogy of novels (later collected as The Country Girls Trilogy), which included The Lonely Girl (1962) and Girls in Their Married Bliss (1964). Shortly after their publication, the books were placed on the censorship index and banned in her native country because of their frank portrayals of the sex lives of their characters. O'Brien herself was accused of "corrupting the minds of young women". She later said, "I felt no fame. I was married. I had young children. All I could hear out of Ireland from my mother and anonymous letters was bile and odium and outrage".[14] The book was also denounced from the pulpit.[15] It was claimed that copies of The Country Girls were burned when it was published, but an investigation in 2015 found no witnesses or evidence of that, and it was concluded that the story was probably not true.[16][failed verification]

Many of her novels were not well received in Ireland. Her fourth novel, August Is a Wicked Month (1965), in which an unhappily married woman has a "sensual awakening on the French Riviera", was excoriated in the press and banned in Ireland. In The Forest (2002), a fictional account of a notorious Irish murder, was described by Irish Times critic Fintan O'Toole as "morally criminal".[17]

In the 1960s, O'Brien was a patient of Scottish psychiatrist R. D. Laing: "I thought he might be able to help me. He couldn't do that – he was too mad himself – but he opened doors", she said later.[9] Her novel, A Pagan Place (1970), was about her repressive childhood. Her parents were vehemently against all things related to literature and her mother strongly disapproved of her daughter's career as a writer. Once, when her mother found a Seán O'Casey book in her daughter's possession, she tried to burn it.[12]

Alongside Teddy Taylor (Conservative), Michael Foot (Labour) and Derek Worlock (Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool), O'Brien was a panel member for the first edition of the BBC's Question Time in 1979, and was awarded the first answer in the programme's history ("Edna O'Brien, you were born there", referring to Ireland).[18] Taylor's death in 2017 left her the sole surviving member. In 1980, she wrote a play, Virginia, about Virginia Woolf, which was first staged in June 1980 at the Stratford Festival, Ontario, Canada. It was subsequently performed in the West End of London, at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, starring Maggie Smith, and directed by Robin Phillips.[19] The play was staged at The Public Theater in New York in 1985. Also in 1980, O'Brien appeared alongside Patrick McGoohan in the TV movie The Hard Way.[9]

Other works by O'Brien included a biography of James Joyce, published in 1999, and a biography of the poet Lord Byron, Byron in Love, in 2009. House of Splendid Isolation (1994), her novel about a terrorist who goes on the run, marked a new phase in her writing career. Part of her research involved visiting Irish republican Dominic McGlinchey, later shot dead, whom she called "a grave and reflective man", and "most reflective and at the same time most forthcoming".[20] She told Marianne Heron, of the Irish Independent, that she had told McGlinchey "that she liked everything about him except what he was [and] he told her that his mother said the same thing".[20] O'Brien denied having an affair with McGlinchey, and claimed later that, as a result of her research, she had to refute questions as to whether she "had love affairs with republicans".[21]

Down by the River (1996) concerned an underage rape victim who sought an abortion in England, the "Miss X case". In the Forest (2002) dealt with the real-life case of Brendan O'Donnell, who abducted and murdered a woman, her three-year-old son, and a priest, in rural Ireland.[9]

O'Brien's last novel, Girl (2019), was based on the abduction of 276 schoolgirls in Nigeria in 2014. She travelled to that country twice to do research, which included interviewing numerous people, from "escaped girls, their mothers and sisters, to trauma specialists, doctors and Unicef". She later said that she had tried to create a "kind of mythic story from all this pain and horror", and was disappointed by its poor reception in the US, although it was well-received in France and Germany.[17] In 2020, she opened the Avignon theatre festival with a reading from the book.[22] Poet Imtiaz Dharker, judge for the 2019 David Cohen Prize, said about Girl: "I thought I had the course of O'Brien's work mapped out before the judging came around, and then, towards the end of the process, another great tome dropped through the letterbox, changing the whole terrain". O'Brien regarded Girl as a continuation of the focus of her career, "to chart and get inside the mind, soul, heart and emotion of girls in some form of restriction, some form of life that isn't easy, but who find a way to literally plough their way through and come out as winners of sort – maybe not getting prizes – but come through their experiences and live to tell the tale. It is a theme I have lived and often cried with".[23]

Her work includes references to Irish lore and history, and mentions of distinctive geographic features such as Druids' circles, Inis Cealtra, and Lough Derg, County Donegal.[24]

Many of her works were translated into French, with The Country Girls translation published in 1960 by Éditions Julliard and, in 1962, by Presses de la Cité. Later titles were published by Gallimard and then by Fayard. In 2010, O'Brien formed an exclusive relationship with publisher Sabine Wespieser.[22] Her work was much loved in France, "both for the quality of her writing but also for her universal struggles which received a particular resonance in France" (French Embassy in London).[25] After the publication of Girl in 2019, she featured in a number of French publications, including Télérama, Elle, Le Monde des Livres, and Le Journal du Dimanche.[26]

Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, US, holds her papers from 1939 to 2000. More recent papers are held at University College Dublin.[27][28] In September 2021, it was announced that O'Brien would be donating her archive to the National Library of Ireland. The library was to hold papers from O'Brien covering the period of 2000 to 2021,[29] including correspondence, drafts, notes and revisions.[28]

Personal life

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In 1954, O'Brien met and married, against her parents' wishes, the Irish writer Ernest Gébler, and the couple moved to London in 1959, where, as she later put it, "We lived in SW 20. Sub-urb-ia".[9] They had two sons, Sasha,[17] an architect who lives in London,[30] and writer Carlo Gébler, but the marriage ended in 1964. Initially believing he deserved credit for helping her become an accomplished writer, Ernest came to believe he was the author of O'Brien's books. In 2009, Carlo revealed that his parents' marriage had been volatile, with bitter rows between his mother and father over her success.[31] Ernest Gébler died in 1998.[32]

O'Brien remained in London until her death, although she often visited Ireland.[24] In 2020, at the age of 90, she was renting a flat in Chelsea.[17]

The reaction to The Country Girls in Ireland damaged her relationship with her mother, who was ashamed of her daughter.[17] (Her mother died in 1977.[24]) The press often portrayed O'Brien as a "party girl", with American magazine Vanity Fair calling her "the playgirl of the western world". She socialised with glamorous men such as Marlon Brando and Robert Mitchum, but said later that she was "doing the cooking" at most of the parties.[17]

Death and legacy

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Edna O'Brien died following a long illness in London, England, on 27 July 2024, at the age of 93.[33][34][35] She is buried on Inis Cealtra (Holy Island), an island in Lough Derg.[36]

According to Scottish novelist Andrew O'Hagan, O'Brien's place in Irish letters is assured: "She changed the nature of Irish fiction; she brought the woman's experience and sex and internal lives of those people on to the page, and she did it with style, and she made those concerns international." Irish novelist Colum McCann avers that O'Brien has been "the advance scout for the Irish imagination" for over fifty years.[9]

Irish president Michael D. Higgins, also a writer and poet, wrote: "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".[37][34]

Recognition, awards, and honours

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Philip Roth once described her as "the most gifted woman now writing in English".[38] A former president of Ireland, Mary Robinson, cited her as "one of the great creative writers of her generation".[39] Others who hailed her as one of the greatest writers of her time included John Banville, Michael Ondaatje and Ian McKellen.[23]

O'Brien's awards include the Yorkshire Post Book Award in 1970 (for A Pagan Place), and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in 1990 for Lantern Slides. In 2006, she was appointed adjunct professor of English Literature in University College Dublin.[40]

In 2009, O'Brien was honoured with the Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award during a special ceremony at the year's Irish Book Awards in Dublin.[41] Her collection Saints and Sinners won the 2011 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award,[42][22] with judge Thomas McCarthy referring to her as "the Solzhenitsyn of Irish life". RTÉ aired a documentary on her as part of its Arts strand in early 2012.[43][44]

In 2017, for her contributions to literature, she was appointed an honorary Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.[45]

She was presented with the Torc of the Saoi of Aosdána in 2015 by Irish President Michael D. Higgins. In 2024, Higgins remembered her "election as Saoi, chosen by her fellow artists, was the ultimate expression of the esteem in which her work is held". He also presented her with the Presidential Distinguished Service Award in 2018.[46]

In 2019, O'Brien was awarded the David Cohen Prize for Literature at a ceremony in London. The £40,000 prize, awarded every two years in recognition of a living writer's lifetime achievement in literature, has been described as the "UK and Ireland Nobel in literature". Judge David Park said "In winning the David Cohen Prize, Edna O'Brien adds her name to a literary roll call of honour".[47]

Girl (2019) was nominated for two awards in France: the Prix Médicis and the Prix Femina étranger.[26]

In March 2021, France announced that it would be naming O'Brien a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, the country's highest honour for the arts.[48][22]

Honours and awards include:

List of works

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Novels

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  • 1960: The Country Girls (ISBN 0-14-001851-4)
  • 1962: The Lonely Girl later published as Girl with Green Eyes (ISBN 0-14-002108-6)
  • 1964: Girls in Their Married Bliss (ISBN 0-14-002649-5)
  • 1965: August Is a Wicked Month (ISBN 0-14-002720-3)
  • 1966: Casualties of Peace (ISBN 0-14-002875-7)
  • 1970: A Pagan Place (ISBN 0-297-00027-6)
  • 1972: Night (ISBN 0-297-99541-3)
  • 1977: Johnny I Hardly Knew You (ISBN 0 -297-77284-8); in US, "I Hardly Knew You" (ISBN 0-140-04772-7)
  • 1987: The Country Girls Trilogy with new epilogue (ISBN 0-14-010984-6)
  • 1988: The High Road (ISBN 0-297-79493-0)
  • 1992: Time and Tide (ISBN 0-670-84552-3)
  • 1994: House of Splendid Isolation (ISBN 0-297-81460-5)
  • 1996: Down by the River (ISBN 0-297-81806-6)
  • 1999: Wild Decembers (ISBN 0-297-64576-5)
  • 2002: In the Forest (ISBN 0-297-60732-4)
  • 2006: The Light of Evening (ISBN 0-618-71867-2)
  • 2015: The Little Red Chairs (ISBN 0-316-37823-2)
  • 2019: Girl (ISBN 0-374-16255-7)

Short story collections

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Drama

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Screenplays

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Nonfiction books

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Children's books

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Poetry collections

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ DePalma, Anthony (28 July 2024). "Edna O'Brien, Writer Who Gave Voice to Women's Passions, Dies at 93". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 29 July 2024. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  2. ^ Guppy, Shusha (31 August 1984). "The Art of Fiction No. 82". The Paris Review. Vol. Summer 1984, no. 92. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2020 – via www.theparisreview.org.
  3. ^ Vulliamy, Ed (10 October 2015). "Edna O'Brien: from Ireland's cultural outcast to literary darling". The Observer. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  4. ^ Wilson, Frances (8 October 2012). "Country Girl: a Memoir by Edna O'Brien: review". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 April 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  5. ^ Country Girl: A Memoir, Edna O'Brien, 2012, p. 4
  6. ^ Hynes, Liadan (11 February 2019). "Who's still afraid of Edna O'Brien?". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 12 April 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  7. ^ a b Sulcas, Roslyn (25 March 2016). "Edna O'Brien Is Still Gripped by Dark Moral Questions". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 12 April 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  8. ^ Conversations with Edna O'Brien, ed. Alice Hughes Kernowski, University Press of Mississippi 2014, p. xvii
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Cooke, Rachel (6 February 2011). "Edna O'Brien: A writer's imaginative life commences in childhood". The Observer. London, UK. Archived from the original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  10. ^ Kenny, Mary (29 September 2012). "Edna's passions: the literati, the film stars and the nun". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
  11. ^ Conversations with Edna O'Brien, ed. Alice Hughes Kernowski, University Press of Mississippi 2014, pp. xvii, 56
  12. ^ a b c Liukkonen, Petri. "Edna O'Brien". Books and Writers. Finland: Kuusankoski Public Library. Archived from the original on 1 April 2004.
  13. ^ O'Brien, Edna. The Country Girls, Hutchinson, 1960.
  14. ^ "Edna O'Brien: 'I was lonely, cut off from the dance of life'" Archived 9 September 2019 at the Wayback Machine by Patrick Freyne, The Irish Times, 7 November 2015.
  15. ^ "The Country Girls at 50". The Gloss Magazine. 7 February 2019. Archived from the original on 20 July 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  16. ^ Mary Kenny (31 July 2024). "Letters to the Editor: Book-burning myth". The Times. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  17. ^ a b c d e f O'Brien, Edna (13 December 2020). "Edna O'Brien on turning 90: 'I can't pretend that I haven't made mistakes'". the Guardian (Interview). Interviewed by Hughes, Sarah. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  18. ^ "Review: First Ever Question Time". 13 August 2020. Archived from the original on 25 September 2022. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
  19. ^ "Stratford Festival Archives | Details". archives.stratfordfestival.ca. Archived from the original on 8 April 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  20. ^ a b Heron, M. (9 April 1994). "Edna Explains". Irish Independent. p. 1. OCLC 1035156580.
  21. ^ Sheridan, M. (25 August 1996). "'I Don't Have Time to be a Scarlet Woman'". Sunday Independent. p. 11. OCLC 1136200154.
  22. ^ a b c d e f g Comerford, Ruth (3 March 2021). "Edna O'Brien to receive France's highest cultural distinction". The Bookseller. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  23. ^ a b Cain, Sian (26 November 2019). "Irish novelist Edna O'Brien wins lifetime achievement award". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 25 September 2022. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
  24. ^ a b c "Clare People: Edna O'Brien". Clare Libraries. 15 December 1930. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  25. ^ Smith, Josh (2 March 2021). "Edna O'Brien Honored with France's Highest Cultural Distinction". Faber. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  26. ^ a b "Edna O'Brien's "Girl" nominated for two awards in France". Peters Fraser and Dunlop (PFD) Literary Agents. 2 October 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  27. ^ a b "UCD Library Special Collections holds the papers of Edna O'Brien". Archived from the original on 3 October 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  28. ^ a b O'Riordan, Ellen (10 September 2021). "Papers of Edna O'Brien find lasting home at National Library of Ireland". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 10 September 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  29. ^ Crowley, Sinéad (10 September 2021). "Edna O'Brien archive acquired by National Library of Ireland". RTÉ Culture. Archived from the original on 16 September 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  30. ^ Gébler], Carlo (22 July 2005). "Secret & Lies: Carlo Gebler". Belfast Telegraph (Interview). Interviewed by Walker, Gail. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  31. ^ "Son reveals Edna O'Brien's rows with jealous husband" by Lynne Kelleher, Irish Independent, 19 July 2009.
  32. ^ "Ernest Gebler; Irish Author of Novels, Plays and Films". Los Angeles Times. 19 February 1998. Archived from the original on 25 September 2022. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
  33. ^ "Irish author Edna O'Brien has died aged 93". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 29 July 2024. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  34. ^ a b Higgins, Michael D. "Media Library News Releases". Office of the President of Ireland. Archived from the original on 29 July 2024. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  35. ^ O'Rourke, Evelyn (28 July 2024). "Acclaimed Irish writer Edna O'Brien dies aged 93". RTÉ. Archived from the original on 29 July 2024. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  36. ^ O'Brien, Fergal (10 August 2024). "Edna O'Brien a 'speaker of truth', funeral told". RTÉ News. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
  37. ^ Gallagher, Charlotte (28 July 2024). "Edna O'Brien: 'Fearless' Irish author dies aged 93". BBC News. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  38. ^ O'Brien, Edna (17 January 2009). "Watching Obama". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 21 October 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
  39. ^ Robinson, Mary (29 September 2012). "A life well lived, well told". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 29 September 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
  40. ^ "UCD bestows Ulysses Medal on Edna O'Brien". University College, Dublin. 9 June 2006. Archived from the original on 17 November 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2006.
  41. ^ "O'Brien to be honoured at awards". The Irish Times. 5 June 2009. Retrieved 5 June 2009.[permanent dead link]
  42. ^ "Edna O'Brien wins Frank O'Connor Award". Irish Examiner. Thomas Crosbie Holdings. 18 September 2011. Archived from the original on 15 July 2018. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
  43. ^ "RTÉ launches Spring Season on TV". RTÉ Ten. RTÉ. 16 January 2012. Archived from the original on 16 November 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2012. There will also be a number of major Arts commissions throughout Spring including profiles of Edna O'Brien and Finbar Furey and "Ballymun Lullaby", the award-winning musical documentary that follows music teacher Ron Cooney on a journey of creating a collection of music that aims to bring the community of Ballymun together.
  44. ^ "Edna O'Brien". RTÉ Television. RTÉ. Archived from the original on 27 May 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
  45. ^ "Honorary Awards" (PDF). British Government. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  46. ^ Higgins, Michael D. (28 July 2024). "Statement by President Michael D. Higgins on the death of Edna O'Brien". Áras an Uachtaráin.
  47. ^ a b Doyle, Martin (26 November 2019). "Edna O'Brien wins the 'UK and Ireland Nobel award' for lifetime achievement: Country Girls author receives £40,000 David Cohen prize which is seen as Nobel precursor". The Irish Times. Dublin. Archived from the original on 28 November 2019. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  48. ^ "Edna O'Brien to receive France's highest honour for the arts". The Guardian. 3 March 2021. Archived from the original on 3 March 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  49. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Alberge, Dalya (12 April 2020). "Scholars hit back over New Yorker 'hatchet job' on Edna O'Brien". TheGuardian.com. No. such. Archived from the original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  50. ^ Parker, Ian (7 October 2019). "Edna O'Brien Is Still Writing About Women on the Run". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 17 January 2024. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  51. ^ "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement. Archived from the original on 15 December 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  52. ^ Boland, Rosita (23 November 2012). "Banville wins novel of year at awards". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 20 January 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
  53. ^ "2018 PEN American Lifetime Career and Achievement Awards". PEN America. February 2017. Archived from the original on 5 October 2018. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
  54. ^ "Edna O'Brien wins the Prix Femina Special". Peters Fraser and Dunlop (PFD) Literary Agents. 5 November 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  55. ^ Contreras, Isabel (5 November 2019). "Le Femina 2019 pour Sylvain Prudhomme, Manuel Vilas, Edna O'Brien et Emmanuelle Lambert". Livres Hebdo (in French). Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  56. ^ Hickling, Alfred (25 May 2009). "Secrets and ties". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 September 2013. Retrieved 25 May 2009.

Further reading

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Wikiquote has quotations related to Edna O'Brien.
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