Pádraic Breathnach (born 12 July 1942) is an Irish short story writer and novelist who writes in the
Irish language
Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...
. He was born in
Moycullen
Moycullen ( ga, Maigh Cuilinn) is a Gaeltacht village in County Galway, Ireland, about 10 km (7 mi) northwest of Galway city. It is near Lough Corrib, on the N59 road to Oughterard and Clifden, in Connemara.
Moycullen is now a satel ...
,
County Galway
"Righteousness and Justice"
, anthem = ()
, image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg
, map_caption = Location in Ireland
, area_footnotes =
, area_total_km2 = ...
and now lives in
Limerick
Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...
. He has won a number of
Oireachtas
The Oireachtas (, ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of:
*The President of Ireland
*The bicameralism, two houses of the Oireachtas ...
prizes. He was also awarded The Butler Literary Award by The
Irish American Cultural Institute in 1992. In 1972 he joined the school of Celtic Studies at the
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
Breathnach has been described as probably the most prolific short-story writer in Irish and as a stylist who is especially good at depicting youth and the natural world. It has been said of his work that it depicts a people inhabiting a harsh physical landscape that echoes their emotional landscape, a people with a pagan attachment to place, however unbountiful.
[Gabriel Rosenstock, foreword to ''March Hare and Other Stories'' (translated from the Irish), Cló Iar-Chonnacht, 1994. . .]
Collections include ''Bean Aonair'' (Clódhanna Teo., 1974), ''Buicéad Poitín'' (Clódhanna Teo., 1978), ''An Lánúin'' (F.N.T., 1979), ''Na Déithe Luachmhara Deiridh'' (Clódhanna Teo., 1980), ''Lilí agus Fraoch'' (Clódhanna Teo., 1983), ''Ar na Tamhnacha'' (Clódhanna Teo., 1987), ''Íosla agus Scéalta Eile'' (Clódhanna Teo., 1992), and ''An Pincín'' (
Cló Iar-Chonnacht
Cló Iar-Chonnacht (CIC; ; "West Connacht Press") is an Irish language publishing company founded in 1985 by writer Micheál Ó Conghaile, a native speaker of Irish from Inis Treabhair in Connemara. He set the company up while still a student.
...
, 1996). His novels include ''Gróga Cloch'' (Cló Iar-Chonnachta, 1990) and ''As na Cúlacha'' (Cló Iar-Chonnacht, 1998).
In 1990 he published a cassette and booklet entitled ''Taomanna'' (Cló Iar-Chonnacht). He has also published a work on folklore and social history entitled ''Maigh Cuilinn: a Táisc agus a Tuairisc'' (Cló Chonamara, 1986).
Notes
References
"Pádraig Breathnach": Irish Writers Online, a concise dictionary of Irish writer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Breathnach, Padraig
Irish male short story writers
20th-century Irish short story writers
20th-century Irish male writers
Writers from County Galway
1942 births
Living people
Irish-language writers
Academics of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
People from Moycullen