Edna O’Brien honoured with France’s highest cultural distinction

Ceremony on eve of International Women's Day

Irish writer Edna O’Brien will be named Commander in the French Ordre des Arts et Lettres by Mrs Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, French Minister of Culture, on Sunday 7th March during an online ceremony on the eve of International Women’s Day.

The Order of Arts and Letters awards the talent of Edna O’Brien, a woman of letters, and the struggle of a committed feminist who offered a voice to women around the world, and recognised by many as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.

Vincent Guérend, Ambassador of France to Ireland, commented: “The French government is delighted to present this distinction to Edna O'Brien, a great figure of Irish literature and to pay tribute to her literary work which has always been committed to denouncing injustices against women”.

Minister for Culture, Catherine Martin said: “The Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres is one of France’s greatest honours and I am so pleased that Edna O’Brien’s work and writing life is being recognised by France in this special way. Edna O’Brien is widely recognised in Ireland as a national treasure. In a career which spans an extraordinary six decades, her special use of words has gained a dedicated readership both in Ireland and abroad. In this week when we celebrate International Women’s Day, I would like to highlight Edna’s work in championing women’s rights and recognise the special influence on younger writers who followed her path.”

During the ceremony organised by the French Embassy to Ireland, the Irish Embassy to France, the Centre Culturel Irlandais, the Cercle Littéraire Irlandais and the New-York Irish Center, Minister of Culture Catherine Martin, Irish writer Colum McCann, Irish actor Gabriel Byrne, Nora Hickey M'Sichili Director of the Centre Culturel Irlandais and Georges Heslin Director of the New-York Irish Center will make testimonials and pay tribute to Edna O’Brien.

Edna O’Brien has built a special relationship with France and the French public both for the quality of her writing but also for her universal struggles which received a particular resonance in France. In 2020, she opened the Avignon Theatre Festival in partnership with France Culture with the reading of her last novel Girl, a moving story about violence against women, one of her longlife concerns.

Born and raised in Twamgraney, Co Clare, Edna O’Brien has received numerous accolades.

She is the recipient of many awards including the Irish PEN Lifetime Achievement Award, the American National Arts Gold Medal, the Frank O’Connor Prize, the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature whose acclaimed work “broke down social and sexual barriers for women in Ireland and beyond.”

In 2019, she was awarded with the highly prestigious Prix Femina special, by an exclusively female jury, a special prize in honour of Edna O’Brien’s entire body of work making her its first ever non-French recipient.

Her first novel The Country Girls, was banned and even incurred a burning when it was first published in 1960. Since then she has written over 20 novels (including most recently Girl), over five works of drama and four works of non-fiction including her memoir, Country Girl.

Translated in French from her first novel in 1960 by Juilliard, by Presses de la Cité in 1962, she was then published by Gallimard in 1968 and 1973. About 15 titles were published by Fayard between 1986 and 2003 before she formed an exclusive relation with her current French publisher Sabine Wespieser since 2010.

Registration for the event online on 7th March at 5pm (GMT Ireland) is at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/celebratewomenwithwords-tickets-139173193769