MAIRE MHAC AN TSAOI SPECIAL-WED 27/02/08

SOISCÉAL PHÁRAIC -ONE TO ONE WITH MÁIRE MHAC AN TSAOI


Tonight’s edition of Soiscéal Pháraic is a special programme on the poet and writer Máire Mhac an tSaoi. Shot on location at her home in Howth, it features an exclusive interview that Páraic Breathnach conducted with the 86 year old recently. This special programme also features archive from the life of this remarkable woman, a life intertwined with the political and cultural development of Ireland in the 20th century.

Máire Mac an tSaoi has led a very interesting, rich and diverse life. Born in Dublin in 1922, her father was Seán McEntee, an eminent politician who had been in the GPO in Dublin during the Easter Rising of 1916, while her mother Margaret Browne was a teacher at Alexandra College where Máire initially attended school. Later she attended the National University of Ireland, Dublin and the Institut des Hautes Études en Sorbonne.

She joined the diplomatic staff of the Department of Foreign Affairs and served in France, Spain, in Strasbourg and at the United Nations and was a member of Prof. Tomás de Bhaldraithe’s pioneering team which produced the English-Irish Dictionary. She married Conor Cruise O Brien and lived with him in Africa, New York and Dublin.

She is a great public reader of her poetry and Máire Mhac an tSaoi is regarded a major poet; her intimate knowledge of traditional, Classical poetic forms and of the West Kerry dialect combine with a modern, European sensibility to produce a voice that is unique O’Brien Press in Dublin published her autobiography in English, The same age as the state, in 2003.

In this wide ranging interview with Páraic, Maire talks about the life of a poet, mother, political scholar and traveller and offers insights into the controversies that dogged her life with Conor Cruise O Brien, Måire talks candidly about her political beliefs, her hope for the Irish language and how the world looks to her today.