Manchán Magan

Manchán Magan is an Irish writer, traveller, author, and television programme maker.

Career

Magan has made over 70 travel documentaries focusing on issues of world cultures and globalisation, 12 of them packaged under the Global Nomad series[http://www.travelchannel.co.uk/Series/ourprogrammes/global_normad.htm Global Nomad - Manchán Magan]. with his brother Ruán Magan.[http://www.ruanmagan.com/pb/wp_ae8a9801/wp_ae8a9801.html Ruan Magan] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006105908/http://www.ruanmagan.com/pb/wp_ae8a9801/wp_ae8a9801.html |date=6 October 2014 }}.

He presented No Béarla, a documentary series about travelling around Ireland speaking only Irish. He writes regularly for The Irish Times[http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/travel/2008/1025/1224800296904.html The Irish Times, "Magan's World"]. and presents the podcast/radio show 'The Almanac of Ireland', on RTÉ Radio 1[https://www.rte.ie/radio/podcasts/series/32164-the-almanac-of-ireland/ RTÉ Radio 1, ''The Almanac of Ireland']

He has written three books in Irish, Baba-ji agus TnaG, Manchán ar Seachrán and Bí i nGrá. His English travel books include Angels & Rabies: A Journey through the Americas, Manchán's Travels: A Journey through India, and Truck Fever: A Journey through Africa.[http://www.brandonbooks.com/authors.php/authors_id/78 Manchán Magan Books and Short Bio] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090216131959/http://www.brandonbooks.com/authors.php/authors_id/78 |date=16 February 2009 }}. In 2009 he spent time as a writer in residence with the Irish Cultural Centre, at the Irish College in Paris.

In 2020, Magan published Thirty Two Words for Field: Lost words of the Irish landscape.{{Cite news|last=Kehoe|first=Paddy|date=12 September 2020|title=Reviewed: Thirty Two Words for Field by Manchán Magan|work=RTE|url=https://www.rte.ie/culture/2020/0908/1163961-reviewed-thirty-two-words-for-field-manchan-magan/|access-date=1 March 2021}}{{Cite web |title=32 Words for Field - manchan.com |url=https://manchan.com/32-words-for-field |access-date=2022-08-16 |website=manchan.com}} In 2021 he published the children's book Tree Dogs, Banshee Fingers and Other Words for Nature with illustrations by Steve Doogan. And in 2022 his book Listen to the Land Speak was published by Gill Books.{{cite web | url=https://www.gillbooks.ie/irish-gift/irish-gift/listen-to-the-land-speak | title=Listen to the Land Speak }}

His television series include Crainn na hÉireann, a 10-part series on the trees of Ireland,{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3GY_iooXC4&ab_channel=LukeMcManus | title=Crainn na hÉireann (The Trees of Ireland) Series Trailer | website=YouTube }} and An Fód Deireannach, a four-part series for TG4 about Irish bogs and peatland.{{cite web | url=https://www.tg4.ie/en/player/categories/top-documentaries/?series=An%20F%C3%B3d%20Deireanach&genre=Faisneis | title=| Player | TG4 | Irish Television Channel, Súil Eile }}

Background

Magan was brought up in Donnybrook, Dublin, he went to Mount Anville Montessori School before attending Gonzaga College in Ranelagh (he also spent one year in Colaiste Rhinne). He later studied Irish and history at University College Dublin.{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/2-cool-4-school-1.933085 |title=Too Cool for School|work=The Irish Times|date=January 28, 2008}}

Magan's family background was nationalist and closely associated with the foundation of the Irish State in that he is the grandson of Sheila Humphreys and great-grandnephew of The O'Rahilly.See e.g., http://humphrysfamilytree.com/Humphrys/raid.1922.html He has explored these connections in various documentaries for TG4 and RTÉ.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

Magan stood unsuccessfully for the Green Party in the Longford–Westmeath constituency in 2016.{{Cite web|url=http://irelandelection.com/electiondetail.php?elecid=231&constitid=38&electype=1|title = Longford–Westmeath: 2016 general election Results, Counts, Transfers}} He built and lived in a strawbale house, which he removed and replaced with a mud and cement, grass-roofed house, in County Westmeath.