Edna O'Brien to be laid to rest on Lough Derg island

Edna O'Brien is to be laid to rest on in the heart of her native Clare, in accordance with her final wishes.

Universally hailed as one of Ireland's finest authors, the Tuamgraney native passed away on July 27 in London at the age of 93. 

A "towering presence" in Irish writing, O'Brien shot to both fame and infamy following the publication of her debut work The Country Girls in 1960,  which was banned in Ireland for obscenity - and even burned by priests in her home town. 

Speaking on RTE's Drivetime, Edna O’Brien’s nephew Michael Blake said his aunt had left instructions outlining her wish to be brought home for a "service in the Church in Tuamgraney where she was christened and had communion".

Read Also: ‘We are all in her debt’: Writers pay tribute to Clare native Edna O’Brien

She had also stated that her wish was to be buried on Holy Island on Lough Derg, where an ancient monastic settlement is still in use as a burial ground and where her mother was laid to rest.

Formal arrangements for the burial are still to be confirmed, Mr Blake said, as this was a "proud but lonely" time for O'Brien's sons, Carlo and Sasha, and her grandchildren.

President Michael D Higgins, in paying his respects to the late author, hailed O'Brien as " a fearless teller of truths, a superb writer possessed of the moral courage to confront Irish society with realities long ignored and suppressed."

"While the beauty of her work was immediately recognised abroad, it is important to remember the hostile reaction it provoked among those who wished for the lived experience of women to remain far from the world of Irish literature, with her books shamefully banned upon their early publication," he continued in a statement.

A Book of Condolance is to be opened to the public at Clare County Council headquarters in Ennis, and in Scariff Library, which was renamed in O'Brien's honour in May of this year.

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