Peig Sayers

Born in Dunquin, Co. Kerry, Peig Sayers moved to the Great Blasket Island following her marriage. Herself illiterate, she dictated many of her stories to Seosamh Ó Dálaigh of the Irish Folklore Commission and to Dr. Robin Flower of the British Museum. In 1936, her autobiography appeared which she had dictated to her son Micheál. Her personal history is a masterpiece of the Gaelic Revival genre of memoirs depciting the hardships endured by a poor rural population in remote parts of Ireland. Sayers returned to the main land when the Great Blasket Island was abandoned in 1953 due to a decilining population. She died in hospital in Dingle, Co. Kerry, and is buried in her native village.