Cáit Feiritéar or An Bab (1 December 1916 – 8 June 2005) was an Irish storyteller.

Biography

Cáit Feiritéar was born Cáit Ní Ghuithín on 1 December 1916 in Ballynahow,

Dún Chaoin ''Dún Chaoin'' ( Irish, meaning 'pleasant fort' ), unofficially anglicised as Dunquin, is a Gaeltacht village in the west of County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. Dunquin lies at the most westerly tip of the Dingle Peninsula (Irish: ''Cor ...

in County Kerry. The area is within the West Kerry

Gaeltacht A ( , , ) is a district of Ireland, either individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home. The districts were first officially recognised ...

. Her mother Eibhlín Ní Shé died shortly after her birth. She was raised by her father John Ó Guithín. His father was Mícheál Ó Guithín, a storyteller, and Feiritéar learned to tell stories from him as a child. It was a family tradition, as her uncle Tadhg and her grandmother and grand-aunt, Kate Shee and Mary Ruiséal Louth, were storytellers. Feiritéar attended Scoil Naomh Gobnait locally from 1923 to 1931. She married James Feiritéar in 1942 and they had seven children, Brandán, Pádraig, Seán, Micheál and Séamus, Máirín and Treasa. Brandán became a radio presenter and author. Seamus became the headmaster of Colaiste Mhuire national school in Dublin (Irish-speaking), the longest-serving principle in Ireland for many years. His wife Sandra became the vice-principal. Feiritéar told stories on Raidió na Gaeltachta and to schoolchildren attending storytelling workshops. Her storytelling was recorded by Roinn Bhéaloideas Éireann, University College Dublin and University of Limerick's Irish department as well as by Raidió na Gaeltachta. In 1988 Feiritéar came first in storytelling at the Oireachtas in

Tralee Tralee ( ; , ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the River Lee') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in ...

. Her stories were published under the title ''Ó Bhéal an Bhab''. She was an influence on a number of Irish writers including

Seán Ó Ríordáin Seán Pádraig Ó Ríordáin (3 December 1916 – 21 February 1977), sometimes referred to as an Ríordánach, was an Irish language poet and later a newspaper columnist. He is credited with introducing European themes to Irish poetry, and is wi ...

Seán Ó Tuama Seán Ó Tuama (1926 – 14 October 2006) was an Irish poet, playwright and academic. Life Raised in the southern city of Cork and educated at the North Monastery (North Mon) school and University College Cork, Ó Tuama first came to promi ...

Máire Mhac an tSaoi Máire Mhac an tSaoi (4 April 1922 – 16 October 2021) was an Irish civil service diplomat, writer of Modernist poetry in the Corca Dhuibhne dialect of Munster Irish, a memoirist, and a highly important figure within modern literature in I ...

and

Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill (; born 1952) is a modern Irish poet whose works have been described as having a "major influence in revitalizing the Irish language in modern poetry". Biography Born in Lancashire, England, of Irish parents, she moved t ...

. She died on 8 June 2005 in

Dingle Dingle ( or ''Daingean Uí Chúis'', meaning "fort of Ó Cúis") is a town in County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The only town on the Dingle Peninsula (known in Irish as ''Corca Dhuibhne''), it sits on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coa ...

hospital.

References and sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feiritéar, Cáit 1916 births 2005 deaths People from the Dingle Peninsula Women storytellers Irish storytellers