Edna O'Brien biography

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Edna O'Brien
Photo: Orion Books

Edna O'Brien

Edna O'Brien Biography

Edna O'Brien is an Irish novelist, memoirist, playwright, poet and short story writer. She is considered the "doyenne" of Irish literature. She was the winner of the 1993 Writer's Guild Prize for Fiction. Her biography of James Joyce was published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in June 1999. In 2001 her documentary novel, In the Forest - about a brutal murder on the west coast - caused a furor in her native Ireland. It was the subject of a BBC Omnibus film and was later shortlisted for Irish Book of the Decade.

O'Brien now lives in London. She received the Irish PEN Award in 2001. Saints and Sinners won the 2011 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the world's richest prize for a short story collection. In 2018 she received the PEN/Nabokov Award. Faber and Faber published her memoir, Country Girl, in 2012. Her most recent novel is Girl, based on the kidnapping of the Boko Haram girls, published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.



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Books by this Author

Books by Edna O'Brien at BookBrowse
Girl jacket The Little Red Chairs jacket The Love Object jacket The Light of Evening jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Edna O'Brien but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Maeve Binchy

    Maeve Binchy

    Maeve Binchy was born in a small village outside Dublin. She spent her childhood in Dalkey, an experience she draws on today when creating the rural villages usually at the heart of her novels. After receiving her B... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Wild Decembers

    Try:
    Scarlet Feather
    by Maeve Binchy

  • Frank Delaney

    Frank Delaney

    Frank Delaney was born in Tipperary, Ireland. A career in broadcasting earned him fame across the United Kingdom. As well as being the author of more than 21 books, he interviewed more than 3,000 writers for his BBC and ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Wild Decembers

    Try:
    Ireland
    by Frank Delaney

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