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Manchán Magan is a writer and documentary-maker. He has written books in Irish and English on his travels in Africa, India and South America, and on the Irish language. Most recently, the bestselling Thirty-Two Words for Field and Tree Dogs, Banshee Fingers and Other Irish Words for Nature were nominated for Irish Book Awards. He writes occasionally for the Irish Times and presents The Almanac of Ireland podcast for RTÉ Radio 1, as well as scores of television documentaries on history and culture. Brought up in Dublin, with long periods spent in the west Kerry Gaeltacht, Manchán now lives near Lough Lene, County Westmeath, surrounded by oak trees.
Manchán is named after a seventh century saint whose monastery and meditation path still survive in Lemanaghan, County Offaly. The name is thought to derive from manach-án ('little monk') or to be a Christianisation of the pagan deity Mongán, son of the sea god Manannán. Mongán, who could manifest as a seal, salmon, deer, wolf or man, was the father of Sinand, the goddess known as the physical form of the River Shannon. www.manchan.com
