Novelist Edna O’Brien is to be honoured with a special lifetime achievement award at this year’s Irish Book Awards.
The London-based author has published 14 novels and five collections of short stories
Her debut novel The Country Girls, published almost 50 years ago, caused a scandal for its depiction of two young friends struggling to make sense of life in the city after the safety of their convent school upbringing in 1950s Ireland.
She won the prestigious Los Angeles Times Book Prize in 1990 for her collection of short stories Lantern Slides.
In conversation at the recent Dublin Book Festival, the 78-year-old writer mused that women had made great progress, but suffered from a “Cinderella Syndrome” and could be cruel to each other.
She will receive “Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award” in the presence of a host of renowned Irish authors at a special ceremony to mark the awards in Dublin’s Mansion House next Wednesday.
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