Maxi talks to Manchán Magan about his success as an Irish writer, podcaster, author and documentary maker, focusing on world cultures, globalisation, the Irish language, Gaelic folklore, and landscape.

 

Manchán is a great-grandnephew of The O Rahilly, who, with Eoin MacNeill founded The Irish Volunteers, and was an early activist in Conradh na Gaeilge. He has had worldwide recognition for his many books, personal appearances, lectures podcasts, live shows, radio, and television programmes.

When we met I first congratulated him on his great success of late. I think it’s been an interesting journey for him from his early beginnings travelling the world, to his status today.
‘‘Yes, I am fifty-four now. I first started writing travel books during my adventures in India, South America and Africa. Then I presented and produced travel documentaries for television for TG4, from Greenland, China, the Middle East and South America. These programmes looked at diverse cultures around the world and how they were keeping them alive. At some point, I thought I should go home and try and explore my world and my own country, and see the richness of my place. Then I started writing books about the Irish language, the lore, and the landscape.

‘‘The first was Thirty-Two Words for Field, which came out as the pandemic hit. I think we were all a bit lost and began to look for a deeper meaning in life. All the normal certainties were breaking up on us – the economic certainty, the climate certainty, and the certainty of the religion that we used to have were all gone, so the people were asking big questions and my books were giving wisdom with the Irish language’’.

Having lived on this earth for over half a century and looking as young as he does one would be forgiven for a curiosity about his diet and his feelings about organic grown produce.
‘‘I produce my food here, in my home in Meath. I have pigs, honey bees and hens. I am producing loads of fruit, vegetables and berries. I cannot be totally self-sufficient but I think it’s important that food is seasonal. I take blueberries and avocado so I will eat produce from other countries.
‘‘Ideally, it is organic but I am only opening up to that lately. My partner has been going organic for longer than me. When I was young I never thought that way. I have been growing my own food for the past fifteen years, but, I will still go to a shop and purchase something non-organic. However, the organic idea is becoming ever more important to me’’.

The first book that brought Manchán to our attention was Thirty-Two Words for Field. In it he tells of the many different kinds of fields, for example, an upland field, a smooth field and a field where cows wait to be milked.

‘‘I wanted to describe the way the language is rooted in the landscape, showing how our ancestors have kept so much knowledge about the old ways. Their knowledge was connected to the myths and how they were connected to parts of Ireland.

‘‘Irish has this profound way of exploring the natural world. The monks were likely writing from the fifth century onward. We have records from the tenth, eleventh and twelfth centuries. They wrote a lot – or so much – of our mythology and folklore. That is rare; we are so lucky.

‘‘It has not been done in many other cultures to such an extent. Those Christian monks were trying to stamp out the old pagan way of thinking and yet, somehow, they decided to record all of this. It was written in manuscript but we also had word of mouth handed down from generation to generation Ó Ghlúin go Glúin – glúin also means knee so that concept is from parent to child grandparent to grandchild’’.
Manchán’s next book to catch the eye of the bookshop browser is Listen to the Land Speak, and he is often asked exactly how we can hear.

‘‘One lovely way is to tune into the seasons. We are lucky that we have four clear seasons in Ireland. They communicate everything to us about the rhythm of the world, the changing tides, food, and what we should be doing. We should quieten in winter, then slowly get more active in spring when the land is warming. It adds rhythm to the world.

‘‘We are not just about technology and things that divorce us from nature. The more we get out in nature the more we begin to notice these things. We notice how the nettles are popping up, beginning to seed, how they die, and how there is nothing left after them.

Continue reading in this week’s Ireland’s Own