Dónall Peadar Mac Amhlaigh (10 December 1926 – 27 January 1989) was an Irish writer active during the 20th century. A native of County Galway, he is best known for his

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 the ...

works about life as a labourer in the post-

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

-era, as part of the Irish diaspora in Britain. His first book, ''Dialann Deoraí'', is his most widely known and has been translated into English under the title "An Irish Navvy: The Diary of an Exile".

Biography

He was born on the Cappagh Road between

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city on ...

and the nearby village of

Bearna Barna (Bearna in Irish) is a coastal village on the R336 regional road in Connemara, County Galway, Ireland. It has become a satellite village of Galway city. The village is Irish speaking and is therefore a constituent part of the regions o ...

and in 1940 moved with his family to Kilkenny. At birth he was registered under the name Daniel Peter McCauley. His father was James McCauley, from

Kinvara Kinvara or Kinvarra () is a sea port village in the southwest of County Galway, Ireland. It is located in the civil parish of Kinvarradoorus in the north of the barony of Kiltartan. Kinvarra is also an electoral division. Geography The vil ...

, a soldier in the National Army of the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between ...

. James had originally been a member of the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief th ...

and fought in the Irish War of Independence. His mother was Mary Condon. He left school at 15 to go out to work in a woollen mill and later on farms and in hotels in the West of Ireland. In 1947 he joined the Irish-speaking regiment of the

Irish Army The Irish Army, known simply as the Army ( ga, an tArm), is the land component of the Defence Forces of Ireland.The Defence Forces are made up of the Permanent Defence Forces – the standing branches – and the Reserve Defence Forces. The A ...

. When he left it in 1951 he faced the prospect of unemployment in Ireland. He travelled to Northampton, England to work as an unskilled labourer. He worked in the construction industry as a navvy, working on roads from Milton Keynes to

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

, such as the

M1 motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the country was the Preston By-pass, which ...

and

M6 motorway The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 and the western end of the A14 at ...

. He later became a writer, producing a number of novels and short stories as well as social history. He was also a prolific journalist. As a committed socialist, he contributed regularly to newspapers and journals in Ireland and England throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He was a member of the

Connolly Association The Connolly Association is an organisation based among Irish emigrants in Britain which supports the aims of Irish republicanism. It takes its name from James Connolly, a socialist republican, born in Edinburgh, Scotland and executed by the British ...

and was a founding member of the Northampton-branch of the

Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association ) was an organisation that campaigned for civil rights in Northern Ireland during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Formed in Belfast on 9 April 1967,

. Although not a native speaker, he wrote extensively 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 ...

. His first book was ''Dialann Deoraí'', an account of his life as a building worker in England. It was an immediate best-seller and was published in an English translation by the poet Valentin Iremonger (''An Irish Navvy: The Diary of an Exile'', 1964). Another book, the novel ''Deoraithe'' (1986), covered similar ground, with a hero who tries to make a living in the Ireland of the 1950s and on the building sites of England. He died on the way to give a lecture in London in 1989. He was buried at Kingsthorpe cemetery in Northampton. 53 volumes of his diaries and literary notebooks from 1950 - 1988 are held in the

National Library of Ireland The National Library of Ireland (NLI; ga, Leabharlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann) is the Republic of Ireland's national library located in Dublin, in a building designed by Thomas Newenham Deane. The mission of the National Library of Ireland i ...

. Gaelscoil Mhic Amhlaidh, off the Cappagh Road in Galway, is named after him.

Bibliography

*''Dialann Deoraí'' iary of an Exile with a foreword by

Niall Ó Dónaill Niall Ó Dónaill (27 August 1908 – 10 February 1995) was an Irish language lexicographer from Ailt an Eidhinn, Loughanure, County Donegal. He was the oldest of the six children of Tarlach Ó Dónaill and Éilis Nic Ruairí from Grial, Loug ...

. Dublin: An Clóchomhar, 1960 / ''An Irish navvy : the diary of an exile'' translated from the Irish by Valentin Iremonger. London : Routledge, 1964. *''Saol saighdiúra'' Soldier's Life Dublin: An Clóchomhar, 1962. *''An diaphéist''. Dublin: FNT, 1963. *''Diarmaid Ó Dónaill : úrscéal'' iarmaid Ó Dónaill, a novel Dublin: An Clóchomhar, c1965. *''Sweeney : agus scéalta eile'' weeney and other stories Dublin: An Clóchomhar, 1970. *''Schnitzer Ó Sé''. Dublin: An Clóchomhar, 1974. / Enlarged English version: ''Schnitzer O'Shea''. Dingle : Brandon, 1985. *''Beoir bhaile agus scéalta eile'' he beer of home and other stories Dublin: An Clóchomhar, 1981 *''Deoraithe'' xiles Dublin: An Clóchomhar, 1986.

References

* Robert Welch (ed), ''The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature''. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1996.

External links

Dónall Mac Amhlaigh and ‘The Middle Nation’

Dónall Peadar Mac Amhlaigh RIP
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mac Amhlaigh, Donall 1926 births 1989 deaths 20th-century Irish people People from County Galway Irish-language writers Irish non-fiction writers Irish diarists Irish memoirists Irish Army soldiers 20th-century memoirists 20th-century diarists

Biography

Bibliography

See also

References

External links