Máire Ní Ghuairim (6 July 1896 – 15 October 1964) was an Irish teacher, writer and sean-nós singer.

Biography

Born in Roisin na Manach, Carna,

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

, the eldest daughter of Mairtin Gorham and Catherine Burke. Her younger sister was Sorcha Ní Ghuairim. She was educated locally, at

Clifden Clifden () is a coastal town in County Galway, Ireland, in the region of Connemara, located on the Owenglin River where it flows into Clifden Bay. As the largest town in the region, it is often referred to as "the Capital of Connemara". Frequen ...

and

Tuam Tuam (; , meaning 'mound' or 'burial-place') is a town in Ireland and the second-largest settlement in County Galway. It is west of the midland Region, Ireland, midlands of Ireland, about north of Galway city. The town is in a civil parishe ...

, moving to

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

to teach Irish at Carysfort teacher training college in

Blackrock BlackRock, Inc. is an American Multinational corporation, multinational investment company. Founded in 1988, initially as an enterprise risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager ...

. While in Dublin she became active in the Irish language movement, joining both

Conradh na Gaeilge (; historically known in English as the Gaelic League) is a social and cultural organisation which promotes the Irish language in Ireland and worldwide. The organisation was founded in 1893 with Douglas Hyde as its first president, when it emer ...

and Comhairle an Fhainne about 1924. From 1919 she published stories and essays in publications such as ''Stoc'', ''Fainne an Lae'', ''An Lochrann'', ''An tÉireannach'', ''An Scuab'' and ''An Chearnog''. She broadcast as a singer on 2RN and

Radio Éireann Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connected to ...

, recording an Irish language course for Linguaphone. She married Sean Mac Bradaigh, TD, on 12 September 1929, and had two daughters and two sons. She died at her home in

Ranelagh Ranelagh ( , ; , ) is an affluent residential area and urban village on the Southside of Dublin, Ireland in the postal district of Dublin 6. Ranelagh was originally a village called Cullenswood. It has a history of conflict, including the at ...

References

* ''Dictionary of Irish Biography ... to the Year 2002'', pp. 936–37, Cambridge, 2010. 1896 births 1964 deaths 20th-century Irish women singers 20th-century Irish women writers Irish-language writers Writers from County Galway Sean-nós singers {{Ireland-singer-stub