Edna O’Brien, Radical Queen of Irish Fiction, Dies at 93

Edna O’Brien, one of Ireland’s most celebrated authors, died on Saturday at the age of 93 after a long illness. “Our thoughts are with her family and friends, in particular her sons Marcus and Carlo,” read the joint statement announcing her passing, written by her agent and publisher.

Hailed as a “fearless teller of truths,” Irish President Michael D. Higgins credited the late novelist with having the “moral courage to confront Irish society with realities long ignored and suppressed.”

For more than half a century —and through dozens of novels and short story collections—O’Brien’s writing explored loves lost and the dark contradictions in women’s lives.

Her explicit prose and depictions of female sexuality were highly controversial and the source of personal attacks in Ireland, despite being celebrated outside of her home country.

The author’s first novel, “The Country Girls,” was published in 1960, and followed two Irish girls rebelling against their Roman Catholic upbringing. This title and others by O’Brien were banned in Ireland with the approval of the Catholic Church.

Attitudes towards O’Brien shifted in Ireland in the early aughts. In 2001, she received the Irish PEN lifetime achievement award and the 2006 Ulysses medal. She was awarded the nation’s highest literary accolade, the Saoi of Aosdána, in 2015.

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