Filmmaker Sinéad O’Shea (Pray for our Sinners) brings us author, playwright and socialite Edna O’Brien, as she reflects upon her life and career with astounding candidacy. Defying Ireland’s patriarchal, religious constraints with her sexually frank 1960 debut novel, The Country Girls, she became a literary sensation. Vilified in Ireland and escaping an abusive husband, O’Brien was empowered and prolific, controversial and sexually open, a taboo-breaking powerhouse who made a fortune and lost one.

Completed shortly before her death last year, Blue Road features extracts from O’Brien’s journals (read by Jessie Buckley); contributions from, among others, Gabriel Byrne and Anne Enright; and a remarkable final interview with Edna, aged 93, as she reflects with dignity and candour on her extraordinary life.

Directed by Sinéad O’Shea | 98 mins | Cert 12A | English language

Full list of Kildare Readers’ Festival events here.

Please note that this has an earlier start time of 7pm.

Screenings are presented in association with Access Cinema and Europa Cinemas.