Diarmaid Ó Súilleabháin

Diarmaid Ó Súilleabháin (1932 – 1985) was an Irish language writer whose chosen theme was contemporary urban life. He is acknowledged as an important Irish language modernist. He died on 5 June 1985.

Like Eoghan Ó Tuairisc, he "challenged the critical orthodoxy by openly proclaiming that their standards could not be those of the Gaeltacht and by demanding a creative freedom that would acknowledge hybridity and reject the strictures of the linguistic purists." He and Máirtín Ó Cadhain were considered the two most innovative Irish language authors to emerge in the 1960s. He often wrote in a stream of consciousness, and his style influenced younger writers. His writing "explores the problem of recovering idealism and cultural wholeness in an increasingly shallow and materialistic Irish society."

Irish republicanism Ó Súilleabháin was an active Irish republican, particularly in publicizing the republican struggle, and was a member of Sinn Féin's ruling body beginning in 1971. He spent short periods in prison because of activities related to his political beliefs.

Works

Súil le Muir, Cló Mórainn, 1959 (for teenagers) Trá agus tuileadh, Sáirséal agus Dill, 1967 (for teenagers) Caoin tú féin, Sáirseál agus Dill, 1967 An Uain Bheo, Sáirséal agus Dill, 1968 Muintir, Sáirséal agus Dill, 1970 (short stories) Maeldún, Sáirséal agus Dill, 1972 Dianmhuilte Dé, Sáirseál agus Dill, 1964 Ciontach, Coiscéim 1983 Aistear, Coiscéim, 1983 Bealach Bó Finne, Coiscéim, 1988 Lá Breá Gréine Buí and Oighear Geimhridh, Coiscéim 1994