Books by Liam O Muirthile

Liam O Muirthile was born in Cork city in 1950, the first of nine children. He attended Clochar na Toirbhirte, Scoil Chriost Ri and Colaiste Chriost Ri. He has spent time in the Corca Dhuibhne Gaeltacht since he was in secondary school. Liam then went to UCC on a City Corporation scholarship. He spent a year in France during this time and went on to get a BA in French and Irish. Sean O Riordain and Sean O Riada were very influential in UCC at this time and Sean O Tuama was Professor of Irish. Michael Davitt, Nuala Ni Dhomhaill and Gabriel Rosenstock were contemporary students of Irish and they launched the acclaimed poetry publication Innti. In 1972 Liam left Cork and made his way to Dublin. After a brief stint in Gael-Linn he moved on to RTE. He was a full-time member of the news-staff from 1973 to 1991, working on radio and television. He left RTE in 1991 to devote his time to creative writing in Irish. He has been a full-time writer and freelance journalist since then. He contributed a weekly column to The Irish Times from 1989 to 2003. His first collection of poetry, Tine Chnamh (1984) won the O Riordain Prize at the Oireachtas. He was presented with the Irish-American Cultural Foundation Prize (1984), the Butler Award (1996), the Arts Council Prize (2001) and Gradam Chlo Iar-Chonnacht (2000) for his poetry collection Walking Time and Other Poems. His novel Ar Bhruach na Laoi won the major fiction award in the Oireachtas (1995). There is a CD of the poet reading with the collection Sanas (Cois Life, 2007). His latest novel is Sceon na Mara (2010), a detective novel set on the East Coast of Ireland. Liam is also a dramatist. Amharclann de hIde produced his play Tine Chnamh in Dublin in 1993, Fear an Tae was produced in the Andrews Lane Theatre in 1995 and Liodan na hAbhann in 2000. Liam is a member of Aosdana and lives in Dublin.