FIVE hundred German cities and towns will experience an "Irish Autumn" this year when Irish, writers, artists, actors and musicians stage a three month festival around the Frankfurt Book Fair.
Announcing details of this year's book fair in Frankfurt yesterday, which has "Ireland - and its Diaspora" as its focal theme, director Peter Weidhaas promised a fruitful autumn both for Irish publishers and the German public.
"These focal themes offer an ideal combination of cultural orientation and commercial possibilities," he said.
Speaking at the opening, the writer Edna O'Brien said: "The Ireland and Its Diaspora festival will bring many Irish writers and the work of Irish artists into direct contact with German audiences. We Irish writers and artists are looking forward greatly to the Irish autumn in Germany.
Festival director Lar Cassidy added: "We'll bring something of the atmosphere of the Irish cultural renaissance to Germany in the autumn."
Seamus Heaney and Chancellor Helmut Kohl will speak at the opening of the fair, which is the world's largest and most lucrative publishing event. A sign of the importance Dr Kohl attaches to the Irish presence at Frankfurt is the fact that he will raise the issue with the Taoiseach on Tuesday when Mr Bruton visits Bonn.
