My encounter with Edna O’Brien, the great literary crusader and giant of Irish literature

The death of Edna O’Brien at the age of 93 brings an end to the long reign of one of Ireland’s greatest writers, who attracted both controversy and adulation throughout her trailblazing career. Lynn Enright remembers the profound personal impact of her debut novel ‘The Country Girls’ – banned in Ireland on its publication in 1960 – and her own meeting with a true original of the literary world