Manchán Magan: A Tribute
Manchán Magan pictured at the 2024 John Moriarty Festival in Moyvane
We are deeply saddened by the death of Manchán Magan, a writer, broadcaster, and cultural explorer whose work shared remarkable affinities with John Moriarty’s lifelong concerns. There were significant overlaps in their influences, including their reverence for the natural world, their explorations of mythic consciousness, and their quests to recover what is essential in our cultural inheritance. Like John, Manchán devoted much of his life to invoking Ireland through his many projects.
Manchán spoke passionately about his dialogue with John’s work during his appearance at the John Moriarty Festival in Moyvane in 2024. In interview with Tommy Tiernan, a recording of which we are delighted to release below, Manchán articulated how John’s thought has served as both companion and provocation in his own journey into landscape, language, and the spiritual imagination. His engagement was not academic but lived, intuitive, and deeply felt.
Manchán was a singular voice in Irish culture, unafraid to follow the trail of wonder wherever it led. His kinship with John was rooted in that shared instinct: to listen deeply, to recover the old stories, and to keep alive what is sacred in place and people.
A prolific broadcaster, in recent years Manchán released a John Moriarty podcast titled The Bog Shaman: Manchán on Moriarty. Its seven short episodes offer bite-sized selections of John’s audio recordings, accompanied by Manchán’s commentary, frequent insight and occasional lighthearted bewilderment. It is a joy and is heartily recommended.
Signing off on what proved to be his final written correspondence with the John Moriarty Institute in 2024, Manchán quoted approvingly Dylan Thomas’s And Death Shall Have No Dominion. The dead shall, in Thomas’s imagining, ‘have stars at elbow and foot,’ Manchán reminded us. We extend our sincere sympathies to Manchán’s wife, Aisling, his family, friends, and all who loved him. May he truly have stars at elbow and foot.
