Tomas O'Crohan

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.

• Name — Tomás Ó Criomhthain • Baptised — 29 April 1855 • Birthplace — Great Blasket Island, Ireland • Place of death — Great Blasket Island, Ireland • Children — 10 • Language — Munster Irish • Notable Works — * Allagar na h‑Inise (1928) • An tOileánach (1929)

It is unclear precisely when Ó Criomhthain was born. In the first sentence of An tOileánach, he states that he was born on St. Thomas's Day in 1856. However, records indicate that he was baptised on 29 April 1855. Ó Criomhthain was the youngest of 10 siblings, only six of whom survived to adulthood: four sisters, Maura, Kate, Eileen, and Nora; a brother, Pats; and Tomás himself. Ó Criomhthain received an intermittent education between the ages of 10 and 18 whenever a schoolteacher from the mainland spent time living on the island. • Illustration — Ó Criomhthain on an Irish postage stamp from 1957. He married Máire Ní Chatháin on 5 February 1878. Together they had ten children, but many died before reaching adulthood: one boy fell from a cliff while hunting for a fledgling gull to keep as a pet among the chickens; others died of measles and whooping cough; their son Domhnall drowned while attempting to save a woman from the sea; others died by various other means. Máire herself died while still relatively young. Their son Seán also wrote a book, Lá dar Saol ("A Day in Our Life"), describing the emigration of the remaining islanders to the mainland and America when the Great Blasket was finally abandoned in the 1940s and 1950s. He died on 7 March 1937, at the age of 81.

• Allagar na hInise, • Allagar 11, Coiscéim 1999 Edited by Pádraig Ua Maoileoin • An tOileánach, Cló Talbóid 2002, * • Translations • Island Cross-Talk: Pages from a Diary, translated by Tim Enright; Oxford University Press, 1987; • The Islandman, translated by Robin Flower; Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1951; • The Islander, translated by Garry Bannister and David Sowby; Gill & MacMillan, 2013;

The authorities additionally record the headings Tomás Ó Criomhthain, Thomas O'Crohan and Tomas O Criomhthain. His recorded language was Irish. He was the child of Donal O'Crohan and wife of Donal O'Crohan. He married Máire Ní Chatháin. One child is recorded: Sean O'Crohan. Recorded as fisher, farmer, diarist and writer.