Manchán Magan

Manchán Magan (20 August 1970 – 2 October 2025) was an Irish author, traveller, broadcaster and documentary-maker whose work ranged across the Irish language, folklore, travel and the natural world. Born in Donnybrook, Dublin and brought up in an Irish-speaking family, he was educated at Mount Anville, Gonzaga College and Coláiste na Rinne before studying Irish and history at University College Dublin. After graduating he travelled overland to Zaire, an experience that inspired his first book, Manchán ar Seachrán. He presented over seventy travel documentaries for TG4, RTÉ and the Travel Channel — including No Béarla, Crainn na hÉireann and An Fód Deireanach — and wrote regularly for The Irish Times. His breakthrough English-language book Thirty-Two Words for Field (2020) helped drive a renewed public interest in the Irish language, and was followed by Tree Dogs, Banshee Fingers and Other Irish Words for Nature (2021), Listen to the Land Speak (2022) and Ninety-Nine Words for Rain (and One for Sun) (2025) — the last of which was named Best Irish Published Book of the Year at the 2025 An Post Book Awards. Magan lived in a grass-roofed house near Lough Lene, Co Westmeath, and served on the board of the nature-restoration charity Hometree. He died in Dublin in October 2025 at the age of 55.