Máire Mhac an tSaoi (born 1922, Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish language scholar and academic.[1][2]
Background
Mhac an tSaoi was born Máire MacEntee in Dublin. Her father, Seán MacEntee, was a
Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála and Tánaiste in the Dáil (Irish parliament) and officer in
during the Easter Rising of 1916. Her mother,
Limerick-born, Margaret de Brún (Browne), was a teacher at Alexandra College, was also an Irish republican. Her uncle, Monsignor Pádraig de Brún, was one of the most respected scholars of
the Irish language in the twentieth century. Another uncle was the conservative prelate Michael
Cardinal Browne.
Political beliefs
Mhac an tSaoi inherited her parents' political views.[citation needed] These evolved over the years, in particular due to the influence of her
politically iconoclastic and non-religious husband, Conor Cruise O'Brien. He is
five years her senior and a divorcé. He had three children with his first wife. Mhac an tSaoi and O'Brien were married in a
Catholic ceremony in 1962; they have two adopted children, Patrick and Margaret.
Irish language activist
Mhac an tSaoi has had a lifelong passion for the Irish language and she is today one
of the leading authorities on Munster Irish. She is a prolific writer in Irish. As a
member of Aosdána she became a key opponent of the Catholic convert and nationalist
Francis Stuart, a one-time son-in-law of Maud Gonne,
for his perceived anti-Semitism.
She has described herself as "a nationalist, a republican and a pacifist". Her poem Jack and short story An Bhéan
Óg feature on the Leaving Certificate Irish course, at both Higher and Ordinary Levels, for the period 2006 -
2009.
Notes and references
- ^ Authors profile - Máire Mhac an tSaoi. Cois Life. Retrieved on 2007-03-10.
- ^ Máire Mhac an tSaoi. Irish Writers on line. Retrieved on 2007-03-10.
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