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Seosamh Mac Grianna (1900 - 1990):
Writer


Seosamh Mac Grianna was born in Ranafast, County Donegal. He was educated at St Columbkille's College in Derry and St Patrick's, Drumcondra, where he qualified as a schoolteacher in 1921. During the civil war and its aftermath (1922-4) he was interned as a political prisoner. He is regarded as one of the finest writers in Irish of the 20th century. He translated many books from English into Irish under the auspices of An Gum working on the belief that only a writer can translate a writer. He visited Wales in the mid-1930s and his experience there is recorded in his autobiography, Mo Bhealach Fein. From late 1935, when he felt his creativity had failed him, he suffered a nervous disorder. This was exacerbated by the fact that he was living in penury. Eventually he returned to Donegal and spent a long period in a mental institution in Letterkenny, where he died. Among his publications are An Druma Mor, An Gradh agus an Ghruaim, Eoghan Rua O Neill, Padraic O Conaire agus Aisti Eile, and An Bhreatain Bheag.

Born: 1900
Died: 1990
Kate Newmann