Tributes have been paid to writer and documentary maker Manchán Magan who has died at the age of 55.
President Michael D Higgins led tributes, saying: “Through his work, Manchán inspired so many people, across every generation, to engage more deeply with our native language, its cultural richness, and through it to engage with, respect and learn from our natural landscape and environment.
“While rightly proud of his family’s contribution to Irish culture and history, including his great-granduncle The O’Rahilly and his grandmother Sheila Humphreys, Manchán’s vision and understanding was not limited to Ireland or the Irish language, but to what we share and are connected to with all forms of life that live within native and indigenous cultures, languages and communities across the globe. I have no doubt that his influence will continue to live with all those whom he met in all corners of the globe.”
His friends Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin and JJ Ó Dochartaigh from hip hop trio, Kneecap, shared their tribute in Irish: “Chuir Manchán i gcuimhne dúinn fán ról atá ag an teanga maidir le tuiscint níos doimhne a fháil ar an cheantar thart orainn agus orainn féin. Mairfidh a oidhreacht i meon fiosrach spreagúil na nGael agus iontu siúd a théann sa tóir ar shaol níos doimhne agus fíoraithe. (Manchán reminded us of the role of language in gaining a deeper understanding of the world around us and ourselves. His legacy will live on in the inquisitive and inspiring mindset of the Irish and in those who seek a deeper and more fulfilled life.)
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Friend and musician Liam Ó Maonlaí also paid tribute to Mr Magan on Friday, describing him as gentle and “other-worldly”.
Mr Ó Maonlaí said he had been playing a gig in Kilkenny last night with Rónán Ó Snodaigh, where they met hurler Diarmuid Lyng: “At the end of the night, the three of us held hands and said a prayer for Manchán on the street. It was before the word came. We got to the B&B and Rónán came in and said: ‘Tá sé imithe’.”
Mr Magan had been diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of prostate cancer, neuroendocrine.
A Dublin native, he spent summers of his youth in the west Kerry Gaeltacht, nurtured by his “terrier-like” grandmother, a veteran republican who he said viewed him as “another foot soldier in this cultural war”.
For the last quarter century he lived in an oak wood with bees, hens and occasionally pigs, in a grass-roofed house near Lough Lene, Co Westmeath.
He contributed to The Irish Times as a writer on culture and travel.
Irish Times deputy editor Conor Goodman paid tribute to the late journalist, saying: “Manchán Magan was a person of extraordinary vision, talent and sensitivity.”
Mr Magan spoke about his condition in a radio interview last month, confirming he had terminal prostate cancer and saying he hadn’t felt much despair or self-pity.
During the September 13th interview with Brendan O’Connor on RTÉ Radio 1, he said: “This sort of cancer that I’ve been playing with for the last year and a half suddenly took a bout, a turn, and started spreading through [my body].
Mr Magan was there to discuss his latest book: Ninety-Nine Words for Rain (and One for Sun), which is the latest project to emerge from what he described as his “cancer of creativity” over the last few years.
[ Ninety-nine words for rain in Irish: could it actually be true?Opens in new window ]
“For some reason, there hasn’t been much despair or there hasn’t been much ‘Why me? Why me?’ – I don’t know why. There’s a lot of pain, even despite all the oxycodone or whatever painkillers I’m on,” he said.
Mr Magan presented an RTÉ podcast called The Almanac of Ireland. His illustrated books include Tree Dogs, Banshee Fingers and other Irish Words for Nature, and Wolf-Men and Water Hounds.
He has made dozens of documentaries on issues of world culture for TG4, RTÉ and the Travel Channel. Many of his programmes were produced with his film-making brother Ruán Magan for TG4 and RTÉ.
Mr Magan’s two-part radio documentary series Listen to the Land Speak aired on RTÉ One last July. He was also on the board of Hometree, a native woodland and land regeneration charity, and was an ambassador for the Rivers Trust.
His book Thirty-Two Words for Field is a catalogue of lost words to describe the Irish landscape.
He is survived by Aisling, his mother Cróine and his three siblings.
His funeral service will take pace at Gonzaga College Chapel on Monday morning. His ashes will be spread at at the Hill of Uisneach in Co Westmeath on November 1st.
