Seosamh Mac Grianna

Seosamh Mac Grianna (1900 or 190111 June 1990) was an Irish writer. He was born into a family of poets and storytellers, which included his brothers Séamus Ó Grianna and Seán Bán Mac Grianna, in Rann na Feirste (Ranafast), a village in The Rosses in the west of County Donegal, at a time of linguistic and cultural change. Mac Grianna is the most high-profile modern writer in Ulster Irish.

Date of birth It is unclear when Mac Grianna was born. He was said to have been born in August 1900, and 1900 is the year that appears on his commemorative plaque in Dublin. However, his birth certificate states that he was born on 15 January 1901.

Legacy

In the 1950s, Máirtín Ó Cadhain described Mac Grianna as one of a handful of 'true writers' to have emerged from the Irish language tradition in the early 20th century, alongside himself, Padráic Ó Conaire and Pádraig Mac Piarais.

In 2016, BBC Two Northern Ireland broadcast a documentary entitled Ar Mo Bhealach Féin in which Seán Mac Labhraí retraced the steps of Seosamh Mac Grianna and his 300-mile journey through Wales. In 2020, Mac Grianna's auto-biographical book 'Mo Bhealach Féin' was published in an English translation for the first time by Lilliput Press as 'This Road of Mine'.

In 2023, a plaque was unveiled by Dublin City Council at the site of his former home in Saint Anne's Park, Raheny.