Author Edna O'Brien has been named Commander in the French "Ordre des Arts et Lettres" by Mrs Roselyne Bachelot, French Minister of Culture, during an online ceremony on Sunday 7 March, on the eve of International Women’s Day.
The celebrated author of The Country Girls trilogy received the honour during an online event hosted by the Cercle Littéraire Irlandais (Irish Literary Circle), and attended by the Irish and French Culture Ministers, Catherine Martin and Roselyne Bachelot.
Edna O'Brien describing how she became a writer, how she 'married’ the vocation of #writing. ‘It means everything to me and I don’t know how I caught it.’ My heart 💙 @CIrlandais @cc_irlandais @IrlEmbParis @IrishArtsCenter @vincentguerend pic.twitter.com/ZUx2HyEtUs
— Dearbhail McDonald (@DearbhailDibs) March 7, 2021
The Order of Arts and Letters (Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) is awarded each year by the French Minister of Culture to significant figures in the arts and literature. The order has three grades, increasing in prestige from Knight, to Officer, and to Commander.
Up to 20 people can receive the title of Commander each year, with Edna O’Brien joining an exclusive list of Irish cultural figures who have received the accolade including Paul Hewson (Bono) and Seamus Heaney.
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Listen, via RTÉ Radio 1: Edna O'Brien reads from Joyce and Nora: A Portrait of a Marriage
Born Tuamgraney, Co Clare, Ms. O'Brien, who celebrated her 90th birthday in December, remains a creative force of note after a career that spans six decades; her most recent novel, Girl, published in 2019, won acclaim for its depiction of the trauma faced by Nigerian schoolgirls ambushed and captured by Boko Haram militants, with the author receiving the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award.
'Within oneself there are the unknown, unborn words, ready to come out, and I was waiting.' Brilliant to witness the extraordinary Edna O'Brien made Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres by France. Félicitations à la grande écrivaine irlandaise et le trésor international! ❤️#IWD2021 pic.twitter.com/Rz4MklMi0V
— Dr Dawn Miranda Sherratt-Bado (@drdawnmiranda) March 7, 2021
Her most recent book, Joyce and Nora: A Portrait of a Marriage, published in 2020, presented a portrait of the relationship between James Joyce and Nora Barnacle.
Over the years, she has received numerous accolades, 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 and the David Cohen Prize for Literature.
