The acclaimed Clare-born writer Edna O’Brien has died at the age of 93 in London after a long illness.
Born in Tuamgraney in East Clare, Ms O’Brien has been described as a “leading light for a generation of Irish writers, and her loss will have a profound impact on the Irish literary scene.”
President Michael D. Higgins has led tributes to the late Edna O’Brien saying: “She has been sought as model all around the world” and was “a fearless teller of truths.” He also described her as “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.”
President Higgins added: “Thankfully Edna O’Brien’s work is now recognised for the superb works of art which they are. That work will continue to celebrate the full freedom that a writer must have, the risks and contradictions of circumstance, the release into beauty that imagination makes possible.”
Taoiseach Simon Harris said this evening: “Ireland has lost an icon.”
He added: “Edna O’Brien was a brave, gifted, dignified and magnetic person. She wrote her debut novel The Country Girls in just three weeks. Sixty-four years on it is not only a remarkable piece of work but still a landmark moment for Irish women and society.
The book would be banned and burned but Edna O’Brien would never be silenced. Most people would have stopped and hidden away from the misogyny she faced, but Edna O’Brien kept working on her artistry and became one of modern Ireland’s most celebrated and honoured writers.
Her memoir, Country Girl, is a beautiful and raw piece of work where Edna O’Brien bares her soul. It is for all of us to reflect upon, and never forget, that to reach her potential Edna would leave Ireland and make London her home.
She beautifully summed up herself and this Anglo/Irish experience and identity of so many people when she spoke of “the wedding of the Country of Ireland and the Country of England in me.”
To her family, especially her children Carlo and Sasha, as well as her legions of fans I want to express my heartfelt condolences as Taoiseach on the passing of such a special person.
Edna said that her writing was her breathing and in recent years while promoting her novel Girl she told interviewers, “I want to go out as someone who spoke the truth.”
To say Edna O’Brien achieved this and so much more is the understatement of the century. May she rest in peace,” the Mr Harris said.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) publishers Faber Books said: “It is with great sadness that Caroline Michel at PFD and Faber announce the death of beloved author Edna O’Brien. She died peacefully on Saturday 27 July after a long illness. Our thoughts are with her family and friends, in particular her sons Marcus and Carlo. The family has requested privacy at this time.”
The publishers also said: “Edna O’Brien was one of the greatest writers of our age. She revolutionised Irish literature, capturing the lives of women and the complexities of the human condition in prose that was luminous and spare, and which had a profound influence on so many writers who followed her.
A defiant and courageous spirit, Edna constantly strove to break new artistic ground, to write truthfully, from a place of deep feeling. The vitality of her prose was a mirror of her zest for life: she was the very best company, kind, generous, mischievous, brave. Edna was a dear friend to us all, and we will miss her dreadfully. It is Faber’s huge privilege to publish her, and her bold and brilliant body of work lives on.”
In May of this year, Clare County Council hosted an event to officially mark the renaming of Scariff Public Library to the Edna O’Brien Library.
The launch was attended by members of the local Blake family. The event was officiated by Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council, Cllr Joe Cooney, and was attended by Cllr Pat Hayes and other County Clare elected representatives.
At the January 2024 meeting of Killaloe Municipal District, Cllr Hayes proposed the motion of changing the name of Scariff Public Library to the Edna O’Brien Library in honour of this giant of Irish literature. The notice of motion was enthusiastically accepted and adopted by all members of the Municipal District: Cllrs Pat Burke, Alan O’Callaghan, Tony O’Brien, and Joe Cooney.
University of Galway President Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh has paid tribute to acclaimed Irish writer Edna O’Brien:
“On behalf of University of Galway and the university community, I extend sincere condolences to the family and friends of Edna O’Brien.
“Edna was an exceptional novelist, short story writer, memoirist, poet and playwright whose work has enriched the lives of many generations.
“We were extremely fortunate to welcome Edna to campus in 1991 to confer her with an Honorary Doctor of Literature in recognition of her contribution to Irish society and literature. This was the first honorary degree conferred on Edna O’Brien by any University, and it was generally seen as overdue recognition of a writer whose controversial early novels in the 1960s, rooted in the religion-dominated Irish rural society of her girlhood, had been banned in Ireland.”
