Séamas Ó Maitiú
Genres: Editor, Childrens' author, Historian
Bleáchliathach is ea Séamas Ó Maitiú. Chuaigh sé ar scoil chuig na Bráithre Críostaí i Sraith an Iarthair, áit ar mhúin sé féin ina dhiaidh sin. Bhain sé céim BA amach i mBéarla agus i nGaeilge sa Choláiste Ollscoile, Baile Átha Cliath i 1973. Bhí sé ina bhall de Chraobh Moibhí de Chonradh na Gaeilge i ndeireadh na seascaidí/tús na seachtóidí, an chraobh ba ghníomhaí sa chathair ag an am.
I 1981 bhunaigh sé an iris Mahogany Gaspipe le hábhar nua-aoiseach spreagúil a chur ar fáil do dhéagóirí. Ba í go héasca an iris Ghaeilge ba mhó díol ar feadh roinnt bliain. Mar chuid den obair seo leis an nGaeilge a dhéanamh tarraingteach do dhaoine óga d’eagraigh Séamas, i nGaeilge Ráth Chairn, an chéad fhéile rac-cheoil Gaeilge riamh. Scríobh sé roinnt leabhar do dhéagóirí ina measc Samhradh Samhradh a bhain duais Oireachtais amach agus a raibh an-tóir air sna scoileanna.
Bhain Séamas céim MA amach sa Stair Áitiúil in Ollscoil Mhá Nuad agus ina dhiaidh sin dochtúireacht bunaithe ar a chuid taighde ar fhorbairt bhruachbhailte Bhaile Átha Cliath sa 19ú haois. Tá an iliomad leabhar agus altanna scíofa aige go háirithe ar stair na hardchathrach agus ar Chontae Chill Mhantáin, áit a gcónaíonn sé le níos mó ná tríocha bliain.
Mhúin sé cúrsaí staire agus staidéar áitiúil in Ollscoil Mhá Nuad, sa Choláiste Ollscoile, Baile Átha Cliath, Coláiste Phádraig Droim Conrach agus Institiúid Oideachais Marino. Múineann sé cúrsa sa Staidéar Áitiuil le haghaidh Chartlann Chathrach Bhaile Átha Cliath gach bliain. Tá sé ina eagarthóir ar Dublin Historical Record agus is minic páirteach é ar chláracha staire ar TG4. An t-aistriúchán Gaeilge i leabhar dhátheangach ar Chath Shráid Uí Mhórdha i 1916 an saothar is déanaí uaidh.
Séamas Ó Maitiú was born in Dublin and went to school at CBS Westland Row where he afterwards taught. He studied Irish and English at University College Dublin and took an active part in the Irish Language movement in the late 1960s and 1970s and was a member of the dynamic Craobh Moibhí of Conradh na Gaeilge.
He founded and edited Mahogany Gaspipe, a magazine in Irish which provided modern lively reading material for teenagers. It was by far the best-selling publication in Irish for some years. As an extension of this work Séamas organised the first rock festival in Irish which took place in the Ráth Chairn Gaeltacht. He wrote a number of books for teenagers including the best-selling and Oireachtas award-winning novel Samhradh Samhradh.
Séamas was awarded an MA in Local History from Maynooth University and a Ph. D. for his thesis on the development the Dublin suburbs in the nineteenth–early twentieth centuries. He has written numerous articles and books on the history of his native Dublin and on County Wicklow where he has lived for over thirty years. He is the editor of Dublin Historical Record, the journal of the Old Dublin Society.
He has taught courses in history and local studies in many third level institutions and currently teaches the annual Lord Mayor’s Certificate in Local Studies for Dublin City Archives. His most recent publication is the Irish text in a bilingual history of the Battle of Moore Street 1916.