Tomas O Criomthain, Irish Author of an T-Oileanach (The Islandman), Died

Tomás Ó Criomhthain commonly anglicised as Tomás O’Crohan and occasionally as Thomas O’Crohan; 1855 – 7 March 1937) was a native of the Irish-speaking Great Blasket Island near the coast of the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland.

He wrote two Irish-language books, Allagar na h‑Inise (“Island Cross-Talk”), written over the period 1918–23 and published in 1928, and An tOileánach (“The Islandman”), completed in 1923 and published in 1929. Both have been translated into English. He is known as the “godfather” of Blasket Island writers.

The 2012 translation by Garry Bannister and David Sowby is to date the only unabridged version available in English. In addition to his writings, Ó Criomhthain also provided content for Father George Clune’s lexicon of the Munster Irish dialect, Réilthíní Óir.