Mícheál Ua Ciarmhaic

(Michael Kirby)

Mícheál Ua Ciarmhaic (Michael Kirby) (1906-2005) was a writer, painter, farmer, and fisherman. The youngest of seven children, he was born in Ballinskelligs, County Kerry on 31 May 1906 to John Kirby and his wife Mary (née Cremin). Apart from three years in the United States, he lived most of his life fishing and farming in the Iveragh peninsula near the World Heritage site of Skellig Michael. His first book Cliathán na Sceilge was published in 1984 when he was seventy-eight. He continued to write for the next twenty years and in all he had eleven books of poetry and prose published. His writing is noted for its simple, elegant style together with his intimate knowledge of local folklore, customs, history, and ecology. Irish language works include Cliathán na Sceilge (1984), Íochtar Trá (1985), An Gabhar sa Teampall (1986), Barra Taoide (1988), Ríocht na dTonn (1989), and Ceol Maidí Rámha (1990), Chuireas Mo Líonta (1993), Iníon Keevack (1996), and Guth ón Sceilg (2000). English language works include his trilogy of memoir consisting of Skelligside (1990), Skelligs Calling (2003), and the posthumous volume Skelligs Sunset (2006). Skelligs Haul, a compilation of his prose and poetry, was published in 2019. He died in April 2005 at the age of ninety-nine.

Mícheál Ua Ciarmhaic’s archive is in the ‘Special Collections and Archives, UCC Library, University College Cork.’

Further information can be found by following the link below

https://iar.ie/archive/micheal-ua-ciarmhaic-michael-kirby-collection