{"id":195498,"date":"2024-11-27T16:47:23","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T21:47:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=195498"},"modified":"2025-01-12T11:50:34","modified_gmt":"2025-01-12T16:50:34","slug":"for-liberties-edna-obrien-documentary-of-a-writer-and-a-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=195498","title":{"rendered":"For Liberties: Edna O\u2019Brien: Documentary of A Writer and A Star"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nEdna O’Brien, a giant of Irish literature, died this past July<\/a>. The loss is almost too much to get your head around, at least not immediately. She was a prolific writer for 70 years. Her books (and memoir, and non-fiction, and non-fiction) have enriched generations of readers. <\/p>\n

In almost eerily fortuitous timing, Blue Road<\/i>, Sin\u00e9ad O’Shea’s documentary about O’Brien has arrived. It opened at Toronto, and just played at DOC NYC as the opening film of the festival (the response was so positive they added another screening). O’Shea’s doc was just in time for this: the documentary features a lengthy interview with O’Brien herself, who was, almost quite literally, on her death bed at the time. Blue Road<\/i> is a comprehensive look at this woman who lived so many different lives, and – like James Joyce observed about his own work – “couldn’t write without offending people”. <\/p>\n

For my monthly column at Liberties, I interviewed O’Shea about her documentary, about the great, the dazzling, Edna. <\/p>\n

Edna O\u2019Brien: Documentary of A Writer and A Star<\/a><\/big><\/p>\n

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\nThank you so much for stopping by. If you like what I do, and if you feel inclined to support my work, here’s a link to my Venmo account<\/a>. And I’ve launched a Substack, Sheila Variations 2.0<\/a>, if you’d like to subscribe.<\/em> <\/small><\/p>\n