Liam Ó Muirthile

Life
1950-2018 ; b. Cork; ed. Clochar na Toirbhirte, Scoil Chríost Rí and Coláiste Chríost Rí; grad. UCC (Irish and French); participated there in Inntí group, 1970-73 wich Michael Davitt and others; served as mgr. of Slogadh Festival; became an RTÉ journalist and poetry reviewer; worked on Súil Thart in the 1980s; and contrib. to Comhar, Feasta, Lug, and Scríobh; issued Sa Chaide agus Dánta Eile (?1980); his first collection Tine Cnámh (1984), won Irish American and Oireachtas literary prizes; translated French authors incl. François Villon, Jacques Prévert, Apollinaire and Anne Hébert; received Oireachtas Poetry Prize; issued Ar Bhruach na Laoi (1995), a novel, winning the Butler Award, 1996; wrote Fear an Tae [the Tea-man], staged by Amharclann de hIde in Andrews Lane Theatre, 19-30th Sept. 1995; wrote a weekly column in The Irish Times from 1989-2003; d. 18 May 2018; (bur. Baile Bhúime [St. Gobnait’s old churchyard, Ballyvourney], in the Cork Gaeltacht.

‘Raidió na Gaeilge?’ (The Irish Times, 12 Jan. 1995) - includes remarks: ‘Ar an gcuid is lú dhe, soláthraíonn Raidió na Gaeltachta an sruth riachtanach teangan san don gcluas, an clúmh don inchinn ina bhféadfaidh ár gcleachtadh teangan féin neadú muna bhfuil sí le bheith ina teanga teaghlaigh agus tí amháin. Creidim gur ionann cás anois, a bheag nó a mhór don dteaghlach Gaeltachta agus don dteaghlach Gaeilge sa chathair. Measaim gurb é an múnla réigiúnach an bhunchloch is ciallmhaire fós chun an sceideal a thógaint uirthi, ach braithim go bhfuil fíorghá anois le táthú níos iomláine a dhéanamh ar an bpobal éisteachta – 38,000 0 ar scála náisiúnta seachas é bheith ina pot pourri réigiúnach.’ (p.12; quoted in Daithi de Mordha, "RTÉ Radio na Gaeltachta & Cultur Phobal Gaelthachta" [PhD thesis] (Cork Univ./NUI 2019 - .pdf; access 17.08.2023.)

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Works
Poetry
  • Tine Cnámh (Baile Átha Cliath: Sáirseál Ó Marcaigh 1984), 112pp. [‘William Harrington a rinne na léaráidí’].
  • Dialann Bóthair (Oldcastle, Co. Meath: Gallery Press 1992), 60pp.
  • Walking Time, agus dánta eile (Galway: Cló Iar-Chonnacht 2000), 83pp.
  • Dánta Déanta (Baile Átha Cliath: Cois Life Teo. 2005).
  • An Seileitleán agus véarsaí seilí eilí ((Baile Átha Cliath: Cois Life Teo. 2005).
  • Sanas (BAC: Cois Life Teo. 2007).
  • Wood Cuttings: New and Selected Poems [bilingual], trans. by Gabriel Rosenstock ((Baile Átha Cliath: Cois Life Teo. 2014), xli, 555pp. [accomp. disc with readings by poet and translator].
  • Camino de Santiago: Dánta - Poems - Poemas, trans. by Carmen Rodriguez Alonso, le cunamh [memorial] by Gabriel Rosenstock ((Baile Átha Cliath: Cois Life Teo. 2018), 46pp.

Query: Sa Chaide agus Dánta Eile (?1980).
Fiction
  • Gaothán (Baile Átha Cliath: Cois Life 2000), 109pp.
  • Ar Bhruach na Laoi (Baile Átha Cliath: Comhar 1995), 204pp.
  • Sister Elizabeth ag eitilt (Dublin: Cois Life 2005), 103pp.
  • Sceon na Mara (Cois Life 2010), 182pp.
  • Aois Fir (Dublin: Cois Life 2015), 100pp., ill. [b&w, Olivia Green].
Drama
  • Tine Chnámh (Dublin: Sáirséal Ó Marcaigh 1984) [adapted for the stage by Ó Muirthile and Michael Scott].
  • Fear an Tae (Baile Átha Cliath: Cois Life Teo. 1999), 65pp.
  • Liodán na hAbhann (Dublin: Cois Life 2001), 41pp.
Newspaper column (Irish Times)
  • An Peann Coitianta (Dublin: The Irish Times 1991), 128pp.
  • An Peann Coitianta, No. 2 (1992-1997) (Baile Átha Cliath: Cois Life Teo. 1997), 229pp.
  • Ar an bPeann [An Peann Coitianta, 1997-2003’] (Baile Átha Cliath: Cois Life Teo. [2006], 228pp. [‘Rogha an údair atá anseo dá chuid colún “An peann coitianta].
Miscellaneous
  • Oilithreach Pinn (Dublin: Cois Life 2017), vi, 241pp. [travel]
  • ed., with Finín Ó Tuama, Saltar (Corcaigh: Cló na Laoí Téo. 1972), 1 sh., [ill.; 50 x 33.5cm.]
Anthologies
  • Incl. in Sruth na maoile : Gaelic poetry from Scotland and Ireland, ed. Michael Davitt & Iain MacDhòmhnaill (Edinburgh: Canongate 1993), xxviii, 275pp.

[See film of his interview with Maggie Howley [Mairéad Ní Uallaig] of Fanore and others - RTE online. ]

 

Criticism
Frank Sewell, ‘Between Two Languages: Poetry in Irish, English and Irish English’, in Matthew Campbell, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Contemporary Irish Poetry (Cambridge UP 2003), pp.149-68; Jeannine Woods, ‘Liam Ó Muirthile, Liodán na habhann (1999)’, in Drámaíocht na Gaeilge: ón Dara Cogadh Domhanda ar aghaidh, ed. Philip O’Leary & Brian Ó Conchubhair (An Spidéal, Co. na Gaillimhe: Chonnacht 2022) [Chap. 13].

 

References
Andrew Carpenter & Peter Fallon, eds., The Writers: A Sense of Place (Dublin: O’Brien Press 1980), select Three Poems, ‘Inné Inniu’; ‘Rince Gréagach’; ‘Feartlaoi François Villon’ (pp.162-65).

Note: the Irish-language publisher Cois Life Teoranta [Beside the Liffey] is based in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin.

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