IRISH literature entered the hallowed ground of the Academie Francaise for the first time last night for the opening event in the Imaginaire Irlandais, which takes off during St Patrick's weekend.
For the soiree which officially opened the six month festival of contemporary Irish culture, four leading Irish writers read from their work, followed by translations in French.
The temple of learning dedicated to preserving the French language was given over to the rich voice of Edna O'Brien and the sensual Irish verse of Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill; John Banville, Literary Editor of The Irish Times; and a poignantly gentle piece about an Anglo Irish couple in the borderland tones of John McGahern.
The 200 guests were then bussed across the Seine to the Klober Centre near the Arc de Triomphe for a celebratory dinner as a weekend of Irish events got under way. Tonight's traditional music festival and ceili at La Villette is already showing full up signs on posters in the Paris Metro after thousands of tickets were cleaned out.
Literary events continue next weekend, with Irish writers attending the Paris book fair, and sellout success for an evening of readings by Seamus Heaney.
The literature side of Imaginaire was inaugurated last night by the Minister for Culture, Mr Higgins. The title Imaginaire, he said, was being used in its French form in Ireland. It "resonates in a particular way for us in Ireland, where the imagination is our greatest resource."
The festival represented one of the most substantial feats of cultural co operation with France, he said. He hoped it would give French people not "a version of Ireland carved from an old polished bog oak" but a feel for "the wave of exciting new changes" taking place.