Honouring Manchán Magan

I only met him once, as my guest on the podcast. I hoped we'd meet again.

Acclaimed Irish travel writer, documentary maker, radio producer, theatre performer, builder of the first straw-bale house in Ireland, regenerator of the 10 acre block it stands on, and best-selling author, Manchán Magan, died in October last year at an age not too senior to mine, just a couple of months after a diagnosis of prostate cancer.

Beautifully, I’ve learned he and long-term partner Aisling married a few weeks before he died. Aisling described how they fell in love too, as she later posthumously accepted the Best Irish-Published Book of the Year award for Manchán’s latest work ‘Ninety-Nine Words for Rain (and One for Sun)’.

Reportedly, Aisling recalled how Manchán had gifted her a copy of his book Angels and Rabies when they first met, marking page 255 to be read. 'It was his way of saying, "I'm not asking for your number, but here I am, this is me, and take your time,"' she said. 'By the time I finished the book, I was already madly in love.'

I’m doubly interested in the book now. It’s about Manchán’s early travels in the Americas, so I was already keen to get hold of it given my family’s recent extended travels there with the podcast, from soon after Manchán and I spoke. Alas, it’s out of print. If you have a copy and might be open to lending it, let me know!

Manchán and I signed off our podcast chat back in 2023 looking forward to meeting again, given the various threads emerging at the time, including tracing more of my roots back to Ireland, and the connections between those roots and Aboriginal cultures here - so a little slice of me cut away with the news of his passing too.

But what a blessing to have had that yarn. Thanks Cole Masters for connecting us back then. And thanks Manchán for your fleeting but unforgettable presence in my life. And of course, for being so much more for so many more people all over the place. That, no doubt, will continue on.

My brief tribute to the man is out on the podcast today.

It’s also dedicated to those experiencing fires and floods over east, and ice storms and ICE violence overseas (along with, I hasten to add, some awesome community resilience in all cases). It’s dedicated too, to my eldest aunt Dorothy, from whose beautiful funeral we had just returned as I produced the pod yesterday.

The music you’ll hear is The Blackbird (Irish Song Dance), by Ennis, Morrison and Muller (sourced from Artlist). Seemed fitting. Here’s another version I just found.

If you’re interested in the original episode with Manchán, and to follow further links, head to episode 173. Recorded with thanks to the Derby Aboriginal Media Corporation, at 6DBY deadly Derby radio in the West Kimberley, on the heels of the Aboriginal Irish festival in Fremantle WA.