A POPULAR Fermanagh writer with strong ties to respected Irish author Edna O’Brien, who died at the weekend, believed that her controversial early novels should not define her career.
Internationally renowned bi-lingual writer, Séamas MacAnnaidh from Enniskillen, collaborated with Ms O’Brien’s son, Carlo Gébler, on the book ‘Folk Tales of Fermanagh: Dark Stories from Across the County’, which was published in 2020.
The pair also wrote theatre production ‘The Cairn’ that was performed earlier this year. Mr Gébler lives in Garvary outside Enniskillen.
Ms O’Brien, 93, died in London on Saturday after a long illness. In a career spanning more than 60 years, she wrote more than 20 novels and worked well into her 90s.
Her early novels won international acclaim but several were banned by the Irish censor.
“There’s too much fuss being made [in the media] about the books that were banned, whereas actually when you go deeper, her work blossomed as time went on,” Mr MacAnnaidh explained.
“I think that’s what is more important. Anybody can get attention at the start by doing things that create a few waves but what matters is being able to continue on after that and produce a solid body of work, which she certainly did.
“One of her more recent novels, ‘The Little Red Chairs’ about a Balkan war criminal that comes to Ireland, is a great example of this.
“To be honest, I wouldn’t have been surprised in the last five or so years if she had got a nomination for the Nobel Prize [in Literature]. If there was anybody in Ireland who was going to get the Nobel Prize at the moment, she would have stood out for her body of work over such a long period of time.”
Mr MacAnnaidh also met Ms O’Brien on one occasion.
“Carlo got married at the Townhall in Enniskillen about 30 years ago now. There was a reception afterwards and I met her then. She was lovely,” he said.
“The stories about her early books being banned and burned by priests – that’s not what matters over the longer period.
“It’s a bit like Sinéad O’Connor tearing up the Pope’s picture on TV. Yes, she did it, but there’s a hell of a lot more important things that she did.”
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