The Ireland of Edna O’Brien with Deirdre O’Byrne

By the time Edna O’Brien died in 2024, she had been showered with honours in her native Ireland and elsewhere, but serous recognition of her talent was hard won. When her first novel, The Country Girls, was published in 1960, it was banned in Ireland, as were several of her subsequent works. This talk will examine just what was so shocking about her writing and why she was seen as a corrupting influence. The focus will be on O’Brien’s early novels and short stories, exploring her excoriating depiction of the lives of women in mid-twentieth century Ireland.

Deirdre O’Byrne lectured on Irish literature and has published articles on Edna O’Brien and other Irish writers. She co-runs Nottingham Irish Studies Group and leads the Irish Reading Group at Five Leaves Bookshop.

Irish refreshments provided

This talk is part of Irish Book Week, an annual celebration of Irish writing. This year it runs from 18th to 25th October

You may also like the following events from Five Leaves Bookshop:

• This Tuesday, 30th September, 07:00 pm, Lost Boys: How Education is Failing Young Working Class Men, with author Alex Blower in Nottingham
• Next Wednesday, 8th October, 07:00 pm, Adventures in poetry, with Andrew Taylor and Cliff Yates in Nottingham
• Next Thursday, 9th October, 07:00 pm, A translation event with Agnes Lidbeck and Nichola Smalley in Nottingham

Also check out other Arts events in Nottingham, Literary Art events in Nottingham.