A Newbery Medal laureate and a multiple winner of the O. Henry Award, her short stories and articles for adults appeared in many popular magazines and have been reprinted in anthologies and textbooks.

In 2012 Gone-Away Lake was ranked number 42 among all-time children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal, a monthly with primarily U.S. audience.

Preparing for a career as an illustrator, Enright studied at the Art Students League of New York in 1927–1928,[4] and at the Parsons School of Design, Paris.

[9] In 1963, the American Library Association named Gone-Away Lake as the U.S. nominee for the international Hans Christian Andersen Award, from the International Board on Books for Young People (announced at the Bologna Children's Book Fair in Bologna, Italy, and presented by the Queen of Denmark) and in 1970, thirteen years after its publication, it also received the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award.

Her final book, Doublefields: Memories and Stories, is a combination of short fiction and tales from her own life experiences.

According to children's literature expert May Hill Arbuthnot, "Elizabeth Enright has a gift for realism" and her style is "forthright and lively".

[11] Speaking of the Melendy series, Anita Silvey wrote, "These cosmopolitan children are intelligent, artistic, affectionate, and, most of all, interesting.

"[2] Reviewer Irene Haas says Enright's "Keen perception of childhood and her remarkable gifts as a writer place her books among the select few that are timeless and enduring."

"[12] According to Charisse Gendron, "Enright's most original contribution to children's literature remains her humorous and lyrical description of characters...