Dublin novelist Anne Enright has become our inaugural Laureate For Irish Fiction.
The appointment was made public at a Dublin reception this evening and formally announced by An Taoisach Enda Kenny, who said: "The Laureate for Irish Fiction is awarded on the basis of literary accomplishment and excellence, and is the highest honour that the Irish State can bestow on a writer in this genre.  Anne Enright’s eloquent and powerful writing, fiercely individual voice and unyielding commitment to her craft combined to make her the pre-eminent choice.  On behalf of the Government and the people of Ireland, I offer her our warmest congratulations.  I know it is a role she will undertake with distinction."
The final decision was made by an international selection panel, chaired by poet Paul Muldoon and featuring Dublin IMPAC Literary Award winner Juan Gabriel Vasquez and New Yorker Ficion Editor Deborah Treisman.
Enright will serve a three-year term. The Dubliner has been a full-time writer for 24 years, with her work featuring in august publications such as The New Yorker and The Paris Review and her novels including The Gathering, which won the 2007 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, and The Forgotten Waltz, winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal For Excellence in Fiction.
Click here for our 2013 interview with Enright, in which she talked to Anne Sexton (pictured right) about the creative process and the pressures faced by female writers
In her new role, Enright will continue to work as a creative artist (her new novel, The Green Road, arrives in May) and fulfill the following functions:
– Spending one semester at University College Dublin and one semester at New York University
– While in residence at the universities, teaching creative writing and work directly with students and faculty
– Delivering an annual lecture, which will be widely disseminated, either through broadcast or publication, or both.
– Additionally, Anne Enright will engage in a number of major public events per annum, with the primary objective of promoting and encouraging greater engagement with Irish literature and, specifically, with reading.