Edna O'Brien called her birthplace of Tuamgraney in Co Clare "the font of my fictions".
An engraving of her handwriting stands at the entrance to her family home, Drewsborough, just outside the picturesque village.
"The place had that numinosity for her and she never forgot it," according to her son, Carlo Gebler, "because that is what fashioned her as a child. That was what flooded into her and was the beginning of her narrative practice."
Following her death almost two years ago, she returned to Clare, and was laid to rest on Holy Island, Lough Derg.
Tuamgraney's most famous daughter is being honoured this weekend at a festival of literature, aptly focusing on the themes of literature, place and legacy.
The author of 'The Country Girls' trilogy continues to influence writers, including Niamh Campbell; author of 'This Happy and We Were Young', and winner of the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature.
"As a woman writer in Ireland, she's one of the OG writers," Ms Campbell said.
"She's an enormous influence, and her courage is particularly important as a writer of her time."
Now living in Clare, Ms Campbell said she understands why Tuamgraney was a source of inspiration for O'Brien.
"There's so much natural beauty around here," she said.
"I was thinking about what has remained the same since Edna O'Brien's childhood and really it's the landscape, it's the beauty and the smallness of the community and the closeness of people, and how different that is to cities where so much writing is produced and where a lot of writers go. It's like a resource to come from where there is so much openness, where you can be yourself."
Ms Campbell was the judge of the Edna O'Brien Literary Awards at Scariff Community College, now in its fifth year.
Student James Bugler won the overall award for his short story entitled, 'Memento Mori; what to do if your parachute fails'.
"It's a longish short story. It's me exploring the idea of what if you could grieve yourself," he explained.
"Writing is a great challenge to try convey an emotion or idea as well as you can. That's the challenge of it."
Progress Falola won an award for her short story, 'Leaving Home', which she described as "the epilogue of my life".
The teenager said she has learned more about O'Brien since entering the competition.
"She is really good. I look up to her," she said.
Mr Gebler said he was pleased to present awards to the young writers.
"I think the development of capacity to express yourself, to express complex ideas in language is what schools ought to be doing, instead of teaching people about fractions," he said.
"Writing and thinking are two practices that go together. By writing you understand what you think, and by thinking you produce what you write. That will help them in the life to come."
