 Her summers were spent on Nantucket Island, off the coast of New England, a location she later used in some of her books.Preparing for a career as an illustrator, Enright studied at the Art Students League of New York in 1927–1928, and at the Parsons School of Design, Paris (not New York City).Enright also reviewed children's literature for "The New York Times", taught creative writing at Barnard College, a women's college affiliated with the then all-male Columbia University in New York City's Morningside Heights neighborhood on the Upper Westside (1960–1962), and led writing seminars at colleges across the U.S.A.

Enright married Robert Gillham, an advertising executive with the J. Walter Thompson agency, April 24, 1930.