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Irish Independent

Irish book showcasing work of renowned Ballinskelligs writer to be launched in Kerry this week

Michael Kirby, or Mícheál Ua Ciarmhic, was a Ballinskelligs native who took up writing late in life and, despite only receiving a primary education, managed to release several highly regarded books in Irish and English before he died in 2005. The book that will be launched locally on Thursday evening is a new collection comprising of prose and poetry selected from the Kerry writer's eight original Irish language books published between 1984 and 2000, with two poems from the 2006 multi-authored collection Duanaire Mhaidcí. The book also features photographs of the author, who was a well-regarded artist, along with some of his paintings and a detailed map of Ballinskelligs by calligrapher Tim O'Neill. 'Glór ón Sceilg' is said to be an insider's account of a unique cultural region, the hilly coastal area that looks out onto Skellig Michael at the tip of the Iveragh Peninsula, which will inspire readers courtesy of the author's detailed knowledge of his physical surroundings and understanding of the relationship between humans and the natural world. The book was published by Cork University Press on World Book Day (March 6). The archives of Michael Kirby, donated to UCC by his daughter Anne Kirby Coffey and son-in-law Patrick Coffey, were opened to the public for the first time when the book was released. The Ballinskelligs writer, as Patrick Coffey recently wrote in Comhnasc, was born in Ballinskelligs in 1906 and was the youngest of seven children in his family. He later emigrated to America and found work on the railways in New Haven, Connecticut, where many of his siblings had also relocated. He returned home in 1933 to care for his dying father, who passed away in October of that year. Though he had intended to return to the USA, he could not due to the outbreak of World War II. Michael fell in love with a local woman, Peggy O'Sullivan, and married her in January of 1943. The couple had six children and Michael , who had an intimate knowledge of the Skellig Coast, worked as a fisherman. After he retired he worked for the Board of Works, painting and maintaining the schools of the parish, until he suffered a heart attack in his mid-seventies and was advised that he should stop physical work. He then took up oil painting, capturing scenery and flora from his area, and his reputation as an artist grew, with people visiting his home to buy paintings. ADVERTISEMENT On trips to see his daughters Anne and Martina in Dublin, he made regular visits to the Conradh na Gaeilge Club on Harcourt Street. There he met writers and publishers who encouraged him to begin writing. And so he did. Michael Kirby was 78-years-old when he launched his first book, Cliathán na Sceilge, at Listowel Writer's Week in 1984 and went on to write much highly regarded material over the next 20 years. Patrick Coffey said the upcoming launch of 'Glór ón Sceilg' is very important for the Úibh Ráthach Gaeltacht, where there is a strong revival of people speaking Irish courtesy of the work of Victor Bayda, language planning officer for the area, and Séaghan Ó Suilleabháin, language planning officer for Cahersiveen.