Edna O'Brien

Josephine Edna O'Brien  (15 December 193027 July 2024) was an Irish novelist, memoirist, playwright, poet and short-story writer. Her career began in 1960 and she retired in 2019.

O'Brien was known for her written works The Country Girls, Girl with Green Eyes, Girls in Their Married Bliss, August Is a Wicked Month, Casualties of Peace, House of Splendid Isolation, Down by the River, Wild Decembers, In the Forest, The Light of Evening, Saints and Sinners, Country Girl and The Little Red Chairs. 

Philip Roth once called her "the most gifted woman now writing in English". Former President of Ireland Mary Robinson called her "one of the great creative writers of her generation".

O'Brien was born in Tuamgraney, County Clare, Irish Free State. O'Brien was married to Ernest Gébler from 1954 until they divorced in 1964. They had two children.

Edna O'Brien died in London, England, on 27 July 2024 from a long-illness at the age of 93.

References

Other websites


 O'Brien at Clare County Library

 "Audio Interview with Edna O'Brien" at WiredForBooks, 22 May 1992
 "Lit Chat" at salon.com, 2 December 1995
 "You have to be lonely to be a writer" – O'Brien video interview for The Guardian, 7 December 2012
 Video recording of O'Brien reads an extract from her autobiography Country Girl
 Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University: O'Brien papers, circa 1939-2000
 Edna O'Brien and the Art of Fiction  by Maureen O'Connor (Bucknell University Press 2021).

Category:1930 births
Category:2024 deaths
Category:Irish novelists
Category:Irish playwrights
Category:Irish poets
Category:Memoirists
Category:People from County Clare