http://mykerryancestors.com/blasket-anniversary-fiche-blian-ag-fas/ Blasket Anniversary & Fiche Bliain ag Fás Sixty years ago to-day, the last remaining Islanders were evacuated from the Great Blasket Island . One of the three most famous Blasket Island books was Fiche Bliain ag Fás. It was published in <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_language> Irish and English in 1933. As one of the last areas of Ireland, in which the Irish language and culture had continued unchanged, the Great Blasket Island was a place of enormous interest to those seeking traditional Irish narratives. Muiris Ó Súilleabháin was persuaded to write his memoirs by <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Derwent_Thomson> George Thomson, a linguist and professor of Greek who had come to the island to hear and learn the Irish language. It was Thomson who encouraged him to go into the Guards, rather than emigrate to America as most of the young people did. <http://mykerryancestors.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/MKA-Blog-Fiche-Bliai n-ag-Fas.png> Thomson edited and assembled the memoir, and arranged for its translation into English with the help of Moya Llewelyn Davies. Following the death of his mother when he was six months old, Ó Súilleabháin was raised in an institution in Dingle, Co. Kerry. Aged eight, he returned to Great Blasket Island to live with his father, grandfather and the rest of his siblings, and learnt the native language. He joined the Garda Síochána in Dublin in 1927 and was stationed in the Gaeltacht area of Connemara, where he kept up contact with George Thomson. In 1934, Ó Súilleabháin left the Guards and settled in Connemara. He drowned on 25 June 1950, while swimming off the Connemara coast. Follow the link above for the entire article.