Read more
Séamus Ó Grianna (Máire) was born in Rannafast in the Rosses of County Donegal. He wrote many novels and short stories about his native place which were treasured for their idioms and their picture of Donegal life at the turn of the century. His dislike for the nua-litriocht ensured that publication of his best work in paperback had to wait until after his death. Cith is Dealán was first published in 1927. This collection of short stories displays the best qualities in his writing - the rich poetical language of the Gaeltacht and the life of the people who lived there.
About the author
Born in Ranafast, in the Donegal Gaeltacht, Séamus Ó Grianna was educated locally and qualified as a teacher at St Patrick's College. He absorbed the rich oral traditions and folklore of the region in his Irish-language works, some of which he wrote under the pseudonym Máire. His career as a writer spans five decades and among his best-known works are the novels Caisleáin Óir (1924) and Mo Dhá Róisín (1921), and the short stories Cith is Dealán (1927). Ó Grianna was interned between 1922 and 1924, having taken the Republican side in the Civil War. In 1932, he became a civil servant and worked as a translator for An Gúm. He was critical, however, of the government's Irish language policy, and in 1966 joined the Language Freedom Movement which opposed the forceful revival of Irish in schools.
