I’m very keenly aware that there aren’t very many women writing literary fiction in Ireland and so that gives me a sense that what I say matters, in some small way. Anne Enright Read Quote
I have a small room to write in. One wall is completely covered in books. And I face the window with the curtain closed to stop the light hitting the computer. Anne Enright Read Quote
There are certain books that should be taken away from young writers; that should be prised out of their clutching fingers and locked away until they are all grown up and ready to read them without being smitten. Anne Enright Read Quote
Naming is nice. It took me days before I was able to speak a name for my first child (what if people did not like it?), and I suspect we gave her a secret, second name as well, to keep her safe. Anne Enright Read Quote
In more static societies, like Ireland, you can tell where a person is from by their surname, or where their grandparents are from. Anne Enright Read Quote
I do wish I could write like some of the American women, who can be clever and heartfelt and hopeful; people like Lorrie Moore and Jennifer Egan. But Ireland messed me up too much, I think, so I can’t. Anne Enright Read Quote
I’m really lucky with the people around me. They know me, so they don’t confuse the issues, really. They know what a book is and they know who I am and they know the difference between the two. Anne Enright Read Quote
I write anywhere – when I have an idea, it’s hard not to write. I used to be kind of precious about where I wrote. Everything had to be quiet and I couldn’t be disturbed; it really filled my day. Anne Enright Read Quote
I find being Irish quite a wearing thing. It takes so much work because it is a social construction. People think you are going to be this, this, and this. Anne Enright Read Quote
Recently I read the stories I wrote in my early 20s, to put in a volume. And here is this brittle young woman, writing about marriage as, not the worst thing, but the most boring thing that could happen to a person. Now I think I was wrong. I like to be proven wrong. Anne Enright Read Quote
