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Edna O'Brien

File:Edna_O'Brien_(2016).jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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Edna O'Brien

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Also known as Josephine Edna O'Brien

Irish writer (1930–2024)

OverviewAI-generated

Edna O'Brien (1930–2024) was an Irish poet, short story writer, biographer, and screenwriter. Born in Tuamgraney, County Clare, she held citizenship in the Republic of Ireland and worked in the fields of poetry and short stories. Her notable works include *The country girls trilogy and epilogue*, *James Joyce*, *Tales for the telling*, and *A scandalous woman, and other stories*.

O'Brien was a member of Aosdána and the Royal Society of Literature. She served as an employee at University College Dublin. She died in London on July 27, 2024, and was buried in Inishcaltra.

Synthesized by Vinony from 39 facts across 8 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Last.fm, TMDb, Wikiquote, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born
1930-12-15
Died
2024-07-27
Works
135

Top works

  • The country girls trilogy and epilogue
  • The country girls trilogy and epilogue
  • James Joyce
  • Tales for the telling
  • A scandalous woman, and other stories

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Writing · Tuamgraney, County Clare, Ireland

Edna O'Brien was an Irish novelist, playwright, poet, and writer for film and television.

Known for

  • Blue Road: The Edna O'Brien Story — Self2025
  • Hemingway — Herself – Writer2021
  • Edna O'Brien: Fearful... and Fearless — Self2019
  • Anjelica Huston on James Joyce: A Shout in the Street — Self - Writer2017
  • Wild Decembers — Woman in church (uncredited)2009
  • The Meaning of Life — Self2009
  • À mi-mots: Edna O'Brien — Self2004
  • The Life and Loves of a She-Devil — Self1986
  • The Hard Way — Kathleen1980
  • Question Time — Herself - Panellist1979

via TMDB

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Person
Gender
Female
Origin
Ireland
Active from
1930
Active to
2024

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
195
Total plays
547

Tags

ireland

<a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Edna+O%27Brien">Read more on Last.fm</a>

via Last.fm · Edna O'Brien

Quotes

  • The vote, I thought, means nothing to women, we should be armed.
  • Oh, God, who does not exist, you hate women, otherwise you'd have made them different. And Jesus, who snubbed your mother, you hate them more.
  • [On the banning of (her then) four novels in Ireland] I believe that mental disturbance by literature is a healthy and invigorating thing. We have plenty of comfortable and easy prose all around us, but it's by abrasion that people's prejudices are aroused.
  • It is increasingly clear that the fate of the universe will come to depend more and more on individuals as the bungling of bureaucracy permeates every corner of our existence.
  • Writers really live in the mind and in hotels of the soul. (Vogue, April 1985)
  • I don't think I have ever learned the game of men and women. To this day I regret the fact that it's like a dance I couldn't learn.

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Key facts

Born
Josephine Edna O'Brien , ( 1930-12-15 ) 15 December 1930, Tuamgraney , County Clare, Ireland
Died
27 July 2024 (2024-07-27) (aged 93), London, England
Resting place
Inis Cealtra , County Clare
Occupation
Novelist memoirist playwright poet short-story writer
Language
English
Period
1960–2019
Notable 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 The Little Red Chairs Girl
Notable awards
Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction , 1990 , Irish PEN Award , 2001 , Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award , 2011 , Saoi of Aosdána , 2015 , David Cohen Prize , 2019 , Ordre des Arts et des Lettres – Commandeur , 2021
Spouse
Ernest Gébler ​ ​ ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1954 ; divorced</span>"}]]}'>div. 1964 ) ​
Children
2, including Carlo Gébler

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
human
Given name
Edna
Family name
O'Brien
Gender
female
Place of birth
Tuamgraney
Place of death
London
Occupation
playwright
Languages spoken
English language
Image
Edna O'Brien (2016).jpg
Number of children
2
Show 6 more facts
date of birth
1930-12-15
Commons category
Edna O'Brien
name in native language
Edna O'Brien
date of death
2024-07-27
place of burial
Inishcaltra
Sources (8)

via Wikidata · CC0

~20 min read

Encyclopedic overview

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, especially in County Clare, but Girl was a fictional account of a victim of the 2014 Chibok kidnapping in Nigeria.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Edna O'Brien” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (2)