Blasket Island Stock Image

The Great Blasket Island ...is the most famous of the Blaskets [na Blascaodaí], as it is the biggest and also had a population of about 200 and the ruins of the old village can still be seen. The small community left an indelible mark on the literary history of Ireland with books such as The Islandman [An t-Oileánach] by Tomás Ó Criothain; Twenty Years a Growing [ Fíche Blian ag Fás ] by Muiris Ó Suilleabáin; The Western Island by Robin Flower [ Blaithín ]; Peig, An Autobiography [Peig, Mo Scéal Féin ] by Peig Sayers and many others. The former inhabitants of the Great Blasket Island were reputed to have the purest and most poetic form of Irish in all of Ireland.