Séamus Ó Grianna

Séamus Ó Grianna (; 17 November 1889 – 27 November 1969; locally known also as Jimí Fheilimí) was an Irish writer, who used the pen name Máire.

Biography Born to Feidhlimidh Mac Grianna and Máire Eibhlín Néillín Ní Dhomhnaill into a family of poets and storytellers in Ranafast, County Donegal. He attended local primary school until the age of 14. graduating in 1914, and was initially assigned as a teacher in Killskeery, Co. Tyrone. The following year in 1915, he replaced Peadar O'Donnell as the teacher on Inishfree off the coast of County Donegal. He had acquired a good knowledge of French, having spent six months living in the south of France between 1926–1927, and he also published translations of short stories by Alphonse Daudet, Guy de Maupassant, and Anatole France. Ó Grianna was opposed to the standardisation of Irish and the introduction of roman type , refusing to allow any publications of his works that didn't use Gaelic type . In his latter life he became disillusioned with the Irish revival movement.

In 2001, Ó Grianna's novel Caisleáin Óir was adapted into a musical. The adaptation was written by Leslie Long, Kathleen Ruddy and Phil Dalton, and the musical premiered at An Grianán Theatre, Letterkenny, County Donegal.

List of works

Bean Ruadh de Dhálach. 1966 (novel). Caisleáin Óir. Mercier Press, Dublin 1924 (novel). Castar na Daoine ar a Chéile. Scríbhinní Mháire 1. Edited by Nollaig Mac Congáil. Coiscéim, Dublin 2002 (novel and journalism) Cith is Dealán''. Mercier Press, Dublin and Cork 1994 (short stories).