Dáithí Ó hÓgáin

Dáithí Ó hÓgáin was born in Bruff, Co. Limerick in 1949. He was awarded a scholarship in 1967 to UCD where he studied Arts and graduated with a Masters degree, followed by a Doctorate in Folklore in 1976. From 1970 onward, he published essays, reviews, and poetry in Comhar and Feasta. His thesis on the image of the poet in Irish culture was published as a book entitled An File in 1982. He began his lecturing career in the Folklore Department in 1975 and was appointed Associate Professor in 2006. He had in excess of fifty books published across a range of genres including poetry, short stories and scholarly works, some of which were translated into several European languages. In 1987, he was appointed Rapporteur-General at the UNESCO Conference on the preservation of world heritage. He published scholarly work on a wide range of topics, and in collaboration with a number of colleagues, including An cultúr agus an duine (1993) with Diarmuid Ó Gráinne, and Skálda: Éigse is eachtraíocht sa tSean-Lochlainn (1995) with Professor Bo Almqvist. Among his most well known scholarly books in English were: The Hero in Folk History (1985), Myth, Legend and Romance: An Encyclopaedia of the Irish Folk Tradition (1991), The Celts: a history (2002), The Lore of Ireland (2006), Irish superstitions (1995); Ireland: people and places: a celebration of Ireland's cultural heritage (2003); Irish family names (2003), The Sacred Isle: Belief and Religion in Pre-Christian Ireland (1999), Fionn Mac Cumhaill: images of the Gaelic hero (1988). He lived in Bray since 1975 with his wife Caitríona and their five children. Along with co-authors Eva Ó Cathaoir and Jason Forde he wrote A portrait of Bray (1998). He died on the 11th of December 2011.