IRISH WRITING will receive a major boost today when the Frankfurt Book Fair opens with "Ireland and its Diaspora" as its focal theme. The President, Mrs Robinson, the German Chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, and the Nobel laureate, Seamus Heaney, will open the fair this afternoon in a sprawling exhibition centre near Frankfurt's business district.
Mrs Robinson met the German President, Mr Roman Herzog, in Berlin yesterday for an hour of talks focusing on Ireland's Presidency of the EU. She later attended a lunch in Potsdam hosted by Dr Manfred Stolpe, Prime Minister of the eastern German state of Brandenburg.
The President said that the focus on Ireland in Frankfurt could have an important impact on Irish people's changing perception of their own country. "Membership of the EU has helped Irish people to broaden the way we see ourselves, so that we no longer rely so strongly on our reflection from our nearest neighbour. The German writer, Heinrich Boll, helped to shape the way an earlier generation of Germans viewed Ireland. `Ireland and its Diaspora' is a chance to introduce a new generation of Germans to a new Ireland", she said.
Almost SO Irish writers will be in Frankfurt during the fair, which is the world's biggest literary event. Arts Council officials hope that the fair's impact will be even greater than that of L'Imaginaire Irlandaise in Paris this summer.
Seamus Heaney gave a reading in Frankfurt last night before an audience of 600 people. He will read again this evening during a gala concert at the Frankfurt Opera House featuring the music of De Dannan and Louis Stewart.
The Irish focus at Frankfurt comes during a week of unprecedented German interest in Ireland. Dr Kohl visits Dublin tomorrow for his first official visit to Ireland and he will return to Dublin at the weekend for a special EU summit.
