In praise of Anne Enright, by Sarah Gilmartin

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Damn you, Anne Enright for winning the Laureate and making my choice seem flavour-of-the-month instead of considered and long-felt, which it is. I first read Enright in college, by chance, after picking up her novel What Are You Like (2000) in a second-hand shop because I thought the title was funny. No matter what genre – short fiction, novels, memoir, essay – it's that same dry Irish wit I keep going back for. There's also the clear and vivid writing, characters that are not always likeable but believable, and Enright's use of literary devices that don't draw attention to themselves, such as the unreliable narrator in her Booker-winning The Gathering (2007). My favourite book of Enright's is her 2004 memoir, Making Babies: Stumbling into Motherhood, which offers a candid and often hilarious account of the ups and downs of becoming a mother. A shout out also for her excellent collection of Irish short stories for Granta in 2010, which was itself a platform for Irish female writers such as Maeve Brennan, Claire Keegan and Mary Lavin, who deserve more attention.
Other favourites: Edna O'Brien and Claire Keegan

“I feel sorry for policewomen - all they do is relatives, and prostitutes, and cups of tea.” – Anne Enright, The Gathering

Sarah Gilmartin is an arts journalist