Biographical Note

Ó Direáin (Derrane), Máirtín (Martin) (1910-88): Máirtín Ó Direáin, poet, was born in Sruffaun, Inishmore, Aran, county Galway, on 26 November 1910. He was the eldest son of Seán Ó Direáin agus Mairéad Ní Dhireáin. At five months old, Máirtín was recorded in the census of 1911 [http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai002385636/]. He attended Onaght National School, Inishmore. At the age of seventeen, he moved to Galway city, where he worked as a clerk with the Post Office until July 1937. He then moved to Dublin, where he worked in various clerical posts with the civil service, retiring in 1978. On 4 September 1945 he married Áine Colivet, with whom he had one daughter. He died 19 March 1988. Ó Direáin is very well known as a poet and writer, and he published many stories, dramas and collections of poetry over the course his career. He was made a member of the Irish Academy of Letters in 1970, was awarded an honorary DLitt by the National University in 1977, and was presented with the Oireachtas Award in 1981. For further information, see Ainm.ie at http://www.ainm.ie/Bio.aspx?ID=1662.

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