Head of Zeus

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Craic Baby: Dispatches from a Rising Language

by Darach O'Séaghdha

From the author of the bestselling Motherfoclóir, Non-fiction Irish Book of the Year.

A TLS BOOK OF THE YEAR.

What do we talk about when we talk about Irish? When we talk about saving or supporting a language do we mean the musical combination of syllables, or something more profound? How do new words enter a language, and what is the relationship between that strange dialect called Hiberno-English and its parent language?

Craic Baby picks up exactly where Motherfoclóir left off and explores the very new and very old parts of the Irish language from a personal perspective. While Motherfoclóir was steeped in memory and a father-son relationship, Craic Baby hinges on the beginnings of a father-daughter relationship, and how watching a child learn to communicate changes how you think about language.

Craic Baby will share more Irish words and issues connected to the language, in the same style as Motherfoclóir, but treated with greater confidence and more depth.

Head of Zeus, an Apollo book * Language and Literary Studies

06 Sep 2018 * 256pp * £5.99 * 9781788545273

REVIEWS

'Darach Ó Séaghdha's observations and reflections are intelligent and interesting'

Irish Times

'Ó Séaghdha wasn't keen on learning traditional Irish language when he was young. Inspired by his dad, he later made it his goal to help preserve it'

The Big Issue

'A wonderful blend of rudeness and erudition'

TLS Books of the Year

'I'd stray away from my beloved fiction for [Craic Baby] Darach O'Seaghdha's follow up to the brilliant Motherfoclóir'

Irish Times Books of the Year

'Darach Ó Séaghdha has a gift for bringing Irish to life, through humour and through fascinating stories of why it is the way it is'

Irish Daily Mirror

'In Craic Baby, Ó Séaghdha wants to address fundamental points about language in Ireland on a longish agenda. And he does it brilliantly'

Irish Examiner

Author

Darach O'Séaghdha

Darach O'Séaghdha is the author of popular twitter account @theirishfor. He lives just outside Dublin, where he works as a civil servant during the day and explores language at night and in the early morning.

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