Just over fifty years after the death of celebrated storyteller Peig Sayers, a new book featuring some 30 of her stories has been published. This fine book is the work of Professor Bo Almqvist, who has devoted many years of study to the repertoire of Peig and her son Mícheál Ó Gaoithín, and another scholar, Dr. Pádraig Ó Héalaí, whose mother spent several years teaching in the Great Blasket Island. Published by New Island, the publication is a collaboration between RTÉ, the National Folklore Collection and Comhairle Bhéaloideas Éireann (Folklore of Ireland Council), and draws on original sound recordings made by Radio Éireann and the BBC in the 1940s and 1950s.
A most attractive book, it comes complete with two audio CDs, re-mastered by Harry Bradshaw. In addition, detailed notes and biographical information accompany the recordings and transcriptions which are also translated into English. Labharfad le Cách is highly recommended to lovers of storytelling everywhere, and to the generations of Irish people familiar only with this great storyteller’s autobiography Peig.
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