Manchán Magan
Manchán Magan was an Irish author, traveller, broadcaster and documentary maker. His works covered a wide range of topics, particularly the Irish language, culture, and the natural world.
Early life
Magan was born on 20 August 1970 in Donnybrook, Dublin, and brought up in an Irish-speaking family there. His father, Michael, was a radiologist at St James’s Hospital. His mother, Cróine, is the daughter of Sighle Humphreys.Magan went to Mount Anville Montessori School before attending Gonzaga College in Ranelagh. He later studied Irish and history at University College Dublin. After graduating, he travelled over-land to Zaire, which inspired his first book, Manchán ar Seachrán.
Magan's family background was nationalist and closely associated with the foundation of the Irish State in that he is the grandson of Sheila Humphreys and great-grandnephew of The O'Rahilly. He was also a distant relative of Aogán Ó Rathaille, the last great poet of the Bardic school. He explored these connections in various documentaries for TG4 and RTÉ.
Career
He presented No Béarla, a documentary series about travelling around Ireland speaking only Irish and wrote regularly for The Irish Times.His television series included Crainn na hÉireann, a 10-part series on the trees of Ireland, and An Fód Deireanach, a four-part series for TG4 about Irish bogs and peatland.
Magan made over 70 travel documentaries focusing on issues of world cultures and globalisation, 12 of them packaged under the Global Nomad series with his brother Ruán Magan.
Magan also presented Manchán's A-Z of Ireland, a 5-episode road trip around Ireland unearthing unusual and unique aspects of Ireland’s natural heritage, and two series of The Almanac of Ireland, which explored the quirks, conundrums and wonders of Ireland’s cultural heritage. Both series were produced by Colette Kinsella of Red Hare Media and broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 and on podcast platforms.
Magan hosted the podcast Home Stories, a series of chats with people living in Direct Provision Centres in Abbeyleix, Emo, Mountrath and Athlone. The chats were edited by Lauren Varien with music by Brían MacGloinn and Myles O'Reilly.
In 2024, he released a series of talks he had with the late John Moriarty, the County Kerry philosopher, in podcast form: The Bog Shaman: Manchán Magan on Moriarty.
Activism
He stood for the Green Party in the Longford–Westmeath constituency in the 2016 Irish general election; he received the 11th highest first preference votes of the 18 candidates and was eliminated on the eighth round.He served on the board of Hometree, a nature restoration charity based in the west of Ireland.
Personal life
In 2009 he spent time as a writer in residence with the Irish Cultural Centre, at the Irish College in Paris.He built and lived in a straw-bale house, which he removed and replaced with a mud and cement, grass-roofed house, in County Westmeath.
In 2022, Magan released a cover of Kneecap's song "C.E.A.R.T.A" to help raise money for a volunteer gym in the Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, Palestine.
In an interview on 13 September 2025, Magan revealed he had terminal prostate cancer, that had spread to multiple organs in his body.
Magan died in Dublin on 2 October 2025, at the age of 55. On the one month's memorial of his death, around 2,500 people gathered on the ancient Hill of Uisneach to honour his life by scattering his ashes.
Filmography
Manchán ar Seachrán Manchán i Meiriceá Theas Manchán in Éirinn Manchán USA Manchán Um Nollaig Manchan i dTenerife Manchán sa Mheán Oirthear Nasc Manchan sa tSín No Béarla Cé a Chónaigh i mo Theachsa? Déanta in Éirinn Bás Arto Leary Crainn na hÉireann DNA Caillte An Fód Deireanach- ''Ag Triall ar an Tobar''