Enright, Dominique

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Enright, Dominique

PERSONAL:

Born in England; daughter of D.J. Enright (a poet, writer, and critic) and Madeline Harders; children: three children.

ADDRESSES:

Home—England.

CAREER:

Writer and editor. Buchan & Enright (publishing house), cofounder.

WRITINGS:

Winston Churchill: The Greatest Briton, Michael O'Mara (London, England), 2003.

The Little Book of Facts UK, Michael O'Mara (London, England), 2004.

How to Be the Best at Everything, illustrated by Niki Catlow, Buster Books (London, England), 2004, expanded with Guy Macdonald as The Boys' Book: How to Be the Best at Everything, 2006, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2007.

Children's Miscellany, Volume 2, illustrated by Niki Catlow, Buster Books (London, England), 2005, published as Children's Miscellany Too: More Useless Information That's Essential to Know, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 2006.

In Other Words: The Meanings and Memoirs of Euphemisms, Michael O'Mara (London, England), 2005.

Children's Miscellany, Volume 3, illustrated by Niki Catlow, Buster Books (London, England), 2006.

EDITOR

Witty, Wicked, and Wise, Michael O'Mara (London, England), 2000, published as Wicked Wit of Women, 2003.

The Wicked Wit of Winston Churchill, Michael O'Mara (London, England), 2001.

The Wicked Wit of Jane Austen, Michael O'Mara (London, England), 2002.

The Wicked Wit of Noel Coward, Michael O'Mara (London, England), 2002.

Kipling: If and Other Poems, Michael O'Mara (London, England), 2003.

Keats: Ode to a Nightingale and Other Poems, Michael O'Mara (London, England), 2003.

Burns: A Red, Red Rose and Other Poems, Michael O'Mara (London, England), 2003.

The Wicked Wit of William Shakespeare: 427 Quotes, Excerpts, and Passages, Gramercy (New York, NY), 2007.

Author's work has been translated into Spanish.

SIDELIGHTS:

Writer and editor Dominique Enright is the daughter of D.J. Enright, a noted British poet and critic. She began her career in publishing not as a writer but as an editor, and she was the cofounder of the Buchan & Enright publishing house. In the late 1990s, Enright became primarily a freelance writer and editor, compiling several books of witticisms by famous British writers and speakers. Her first edited work, Witty, Wicked, and Wise, features quotes and barbs from female political figures from Queen Elizabeth I to Catherine the Great, as well as women writers such as Dorothy Parker and Jane Austen, and features nearly 600 quotes. In other edited works she collects quotes taken from several pithy Brits: one volume each for former British prime minister Winston Churchill and writers Austen, Noel Coward, and William Shakespeare.

In addition to editing collections of quips, Enright has compiled several collections of poetry and has authored a biography of Churchill and a history of common phrases and idioms in the English language. In addition, her book The Little Books of Facts UK collects a number of quick statistics about the United Kingdom that are useful for the trivia obsessed.

Enright's first book geared for young readers was published in England and subsequently adapted for U.S. audiences with the help of Guy Macdonald. The Boys' Book: How to Be the Best at Everything, together with its companion volume, The Girls' Book: How to Be the Best at Everything, were described as "jokier and more kid friendly" than similar how-to books, according to Roger Sutton in Horn Book. The titles offer tips on topics ranging from fighting off crocodiles to ripping phone books in half or surviving a zombie attack. The how-to instructions range from "benign … to outrageous … to outrageously exaggerated," wrote Baran Elaine Black in her School Library Journal review of The Boys' Book, and a Kirkus Reviews contributor deemed Enright's volume "worth picking up for all those lads … eager to learn" the various offbeat skills offered.