Joyce's Women

I love fire. Fire is the colour of genius. In this audacious new work, Edna O'Brien gives voice to the women who were central to the life of James Joyce. 'James Joyce had been my ultimate hero for sixty years, but to paint the canvas of his life was daunting. Therefore I decided to depict him as seen by the key figures in his life - Mother, Wife, Mistress of a fleeting moment, his patron Harriet Weaver and his beloved Daughter Lucia, of whom he said her mind was but a transparent leaf away from his.' Written to celebrate the centenary of Ulysses,Joyce's Women premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in September 2022.

Edna O'Brien has written more than twenty works of fiction. She is the recipient of many awards, including the Irish PEN Lifetime Achievement Award, the American National Arts Gold Medal, the Frank O'Connor Prize, the PEN/Nabokov Award For Achievement in International Literature, and the David Cohen Prize for Literature. In 2021, Edna O'Brien was awarded the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. She is currently writing a play, Joyce's Women, for the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, to mark the centenary of the publication of Ulysses. Born and raised in the west of Ireland, she has lived in London for many years.