Irish author Anne Enright wins prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize of $175,000

IRISH NOVELIST ANNE Enright is to be awarded $175,000 in recognition of her writing talents and outstanding portfolio.

The Rathmines-native is among eight international writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama who will get the Windham-Campbell prize, which aims to allow authors to focus on their work without financial concerns.

Enright has published eight novels in her career, including The Gathering, which secured her the Man Booker Prize in 2007, and was named Irish Novel of the Year in 2008.

She’s also won several other prestigious awards, including the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and the Orange Prize for Fiction in the UK.

Accepting the Windham Campbell prize, Enright said she was “floored” by the generosity and good will.

The sense of unreality has not left me since the news came in—what an astonishing thing to drop out of a clear blue sky.

Arts Minister Patrick O’Donovan said he was delighted that the award was bestowed on Enright.

“Anne is one of our greatest living Irish writers and the Windham-Campbell Prize is further recognition of the remarkable body of work she has created over the past 30 years or more.”

Enright showed promise from a young age, earning a scholarship to Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific in Canada.

The achievements of Irish writers are recognised around the world and her novels are a worthy addition to that proud tradition. Anne has been to the forefront of contemporary Irish writing for decades and is one of our most beloved writers with legions of readers at home and around the world.

Anne, as a former winner of the Man Booker Prize, is no stranger to international accolades and I offer her my warmest congratulations on this well merited recognition of her work.”

After secondary school, she went on to study English and Philosophy at Trinity College Dublin.

She holds an honorary degree from Goldsmiths College in London and she is a fellow of the the UK’s Royal Society of Literature.

In 2021, the Irish Academy of the Arts elected her a member of Aosdána, recognising her outstanding contribution to the creative arts.

Enright’s fiction explores themes such as family, love, identity and motherhood. She’s also written many short stories, as well as a non-fiction work called Making Babies: Stumbling into Motherhood, which is about the birth of her two children.