Dublin novelist and broadcast journalist Anne Enright engages in a deep discussion with Georgetown University professor George O'Brien that illuminates Enright's early writing experiences and her subsequent success in the context of Dublin's changing socio-economics. O'Brien encourages Enright to share her philosophy of the way a plot unfolds; she loves to "find the surprises" as she writes and says, "Bewildered is the best way to be." She explains her "sensory" writing process and what her characters from What Are You Like? (winner of the Royal Society of Authors Encore Prize) The Wig My Father Wore, and The Portable Virgin (winner of the 1991 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature) can teach us about the ways we use masks, labels, and illusions to fashion identity and make certain choices. Taped in 2006. One year after this show aired, Enright won the Man Booker Prize for her novel, The Gathering.
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