Maidhc Dainín Ó Sé

Life
1942-2013 [Micí Dainín; angl. O’Shea]; b. 2 Feb., Carrachan, nr. Feothanach, W. Kerry [Gaeltacht]; emigrated to London, following a brother, then Chicago where he worked for Sears Roebuck Mail Catalogue; witnessed Civil Rights movement; returned to Ireland in the early 1970s, having married Kathleen [Kate] Fitzgerald, formerly of Gleanntan, Cordal, nr. Castleisland, with whom two children, Coamhin and Deirdre in America, and afterwards three more in Ireland (Danny, Daithí and Marianne); worked for Dingle Creamery [Kerry Co-op], Listowel, as a driver; first established a reputation as an accordion player having first played in London and Chicago;

played on Radio na Gaeltachta and at Oireachtas na Gaeilge; suffered tragic loss of dg. Deirdre who had returned to America (Philadelphia) and married; issued A Thig Ná Tit Orm (Coisceim 1987), an account of his own childhood in W. Kerry and his days as a musical emigrant in London and Chicago; the book replaced Peig by Peg Seyers on the Leaving Cert. syllabus; also issued Lucinda Sly (2008), a historical novel and winner of an Oireachtas na Gaeilge award, afterwards trans. by Gabriel Fitzmaurice (2013); wrote 19 books incl. 4 for children; also Punt Isló (2013); his son Daithí is a successful broadcaster and has hosted the Rose of Kerry in 2013.

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Works
Autobiography
  • A thig ná tit orm (Baile Átha Cliath: Coiscéim 1987), and Do. (Baile Átha Cliath: CJ Fallon 1995, 2011), 174pp., ill. [1 lf.; port.; 24 cm.]; trans. by Gabriel Fitzmaurice as House Don't Fall on Me (Cork: Mercier Press 2007), 224pp.
Fiction
  • Corcán na dTrí gCos (Baile Átha Cliath: Coiscéim 1988, 1989), 142pp., ill. [port.; stories]
  • Tae le tae (Baile Átha Cliath: Coiscéim 1990), 221pp., and Do., [rep.] (Coisceim 2002), 161pp.
  • Chicago driver (Baile Átha Cliath: Coiscéim 1992), 134pp.
  • Dochtúir na bPiast (Baile Átha Cliath: Coiscéim 1993), 242pp.
  • Greenhorn (Baile Átha Cliath: Coiscéim 1997), 319pp.
  • Madraí na nocht gcos ( Baile Atha Cliath: Coisceim 1998), 55pp.: ill. [by Cormac O Snodaigh].
  • Mair, a chapaill (Baile Átha Cliath: Coiscéim 1999), 71pp. ill. [by Cormac Ó Snodaigh].
  • Idir dhá lios (Baile Átha Cliath: Coiscéim 2005), 201pp., ill. [by le Cliodna Cussen]
  • Is glas iad na cnoic ( Baile Átha Cliath: Coiscéim 1997), 63p.: ill. [by Cormac Ó Snodaigh]
  • Lilí Frainc (Baile Átha Cliath: Coiscéim [2001]), 281pp.
  • Mura mBuafam - Suatham (Baile Átha Cliath: Coisceim 2003), 167pp.: ports.
  • Nuadha agus Breoghan ar neamh (Baile Átha Cliath: Coisceim 2006), 167pp., ill. [by Cliodna Cussen]
  • Binn Éadair (Baile Átha Cliath: Coiscéim 2006), 167pp.: ill. [by Cliodna Cussen]
  • Seán Óg Máirtín (Baile Átha Cliath: Coiscéim 2007), 136pp.: ill. [by Cliodna Cussen].
  • Lucinda Sly: úrscéal stairiúil (Baile Átha Cliath: Coiscéim 2008), 152pp., trans. as Lucinda Sly: A Woman Hanged, trans. Gabriel Fitzmaurice (Liberties Press 2013).
  • Cara go brách: Úrscéal (Baile Átha Cliath: Coiscéim 2010), 223pp., ill. [port.]
Poetry
  • Citeal na stoirme [An Chéad Chló/1st Edn.] (Baile Átha Cliath: Coiscéim 1991), 70pp.

Biobiographical details
Gabriel Fitzmaurice, trans., House Don't Fall on Me [A thig ná tit orm] (Cork: Mercier Press 2007), 224pp. Originally published in Irish in 1987 by Coiscéim - his earliest work, this is the story of a young boy growing up in the West Kerry Gaeltacht in the 1940s and 1950s. It describes the fun and games of his schooldays, his accordion playing for ceilís as a teenager, his emigration to London unknown to his parents, his meeting up with his brother and working there, his further emigration to Chicago and his marriage and eventual return to Ireland. [The] Irish version is colloquial, conversational, and without any airs and graces.

Gabriel Fitzmaurice, trans., Lucinda Sly: A Woman Hanged (2013): Lucinda Singleton is publicly hanged alongside her lover, John Dempsey, in front of Carlow Gaol on 30 March, 1835 -the last woman to be hanged in Carlow. Based on events that took place in Carlow in 1834 and 1835, the novel tells the story of Lucinda Singleton, a widow who married a well-to-do farmer named Walter Sly. Suffering at the hands of her abusive husband – a drunkard and a brute – she conspires with her lover, John Dempsey, to murder him.

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