Biography

Éamon Ó Ciosáin grew up in a family that spoke the ancestral Celtic language of Ireland, which was official but minority language in many ways in the largely English-speaking environment of Dublin city. It helped that the family was connected to Gaeltacht areas, where the language is practised daily by communities, in schools and intergenerational settings. Nevertheless, he has always been familiar with both languages of Ireland: Gaelic and English.
Éamon Ó Ciosáin began his studies at University College Dublin, where he graduated in French and Old Irish. The University was also an opportunity to study Breton, and he continued his studies in Brittany, spending several periods in Breton-speaking regions, eventually publishing collections of translations of poems in Irish Gaelic and Breton (Barzhonegoù Iwerzhonek, Skrid ed., 1983) and in French (“Une Île et d’Autres Îles”, ed. Calligrammes, 1984). With his publications, Éamon aimed to make the public aware of contemporary Gaelic literature, virtually unknown in France.
It was also important to him to make Irish-language literature known to Bretons, a receptive and often enthusiastic audience for Ireland. He later collaborated on Loeiz Andouard’s “Irish-Breton Dictionary” (1987), building a further bridge between the two languages.

Other translations have followed: the poems of H. Seubil gKernaudour translated into Irish, translations of poems for the “Anthologie de la poésie irlandaise du XXe siècle” (1996), as well as some prose texts. Every year he contributes translations to the Franco-Irish Literary Festival in Dublin, where he chairs some sessions and is a member of the committee. He boasts a large number of collaborations, such as a study on translations of Gaelic literature into continental European languages (“Ireland in the European Eye”, in “Royal Irish Academy”, 2019). He has published three volumes of historical sources on Irish immigrants in Brittany in the 17th and 18th centuries. Numerous articles on the subject of this migration, ranging from social history to Irish language elements in Le Pelletier’s “Dictionnaire de la langue bretonne”. He has collaborated with researchers and singers such as Yann-Fañch Kemener and Alan Stivell. In the artistic field, one of his current initiatives is the participation in the historical-musical show “Les Irlandais de Bretagne”.

Éamon is very active in both countries’ media. He was a founding member of the Irish-language community radio station “Raidió na Life”, on air in the Dublin area since 1993. He has participated in Breton-language programmes on local radio stations and Radio France de Bretagne. For years he has been writing a column on Irish current affairs and culture in Al Lanv Magazine, discussing language policy in Brittany and Ireland, language officialdom, the Gaeltacht, media and publishing. In fact, he’s a regular guest at the Festival du Livre in Carhaix. In Ireland, he has lectured on Breton language and culture and published articles or notes on literary works in Irish, sociolinguistic language policies. He published a history of the first weekly news magazine, An t-Éireannach, founded by his maternal grandfather and edited by talented writers. This newspaper was active in denouncing the rise of fascism and imperialism in Europe, following an editorial line that emphasised human rights, including the rights of native speakers in the face of an Irish state that was supposed to protect them. Because it was published in a minority language and had unusual content, this weekly remained unknown to historians and the general public alike for a long time. Research on this weekly gave rise to two books edited by Éamon: an edition of the short stories by Tom O’Flaherty (brother of the famous Liam O’Flaherty), who was one of the founders and editors of “An t-Éireannach”, some of whose texts, later forgotten, had been published in 1935 and others had remained unpublished.

Éamon Ó Ciosáin was also active in teaching French and Breton at the National University of Ireland in Maynooth. For about fifteen years, his University course was the only Breton course in all Ireland. Between 1980 and 1988, he taught his mother tongue in the Celtic Studies Department at the University of Rennes 2 and English at the same university. After obtaining his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Breton and Celtic Studies at the University of Rennes 2, he obtained a doctorate in history. Éamon Ó Ciosáin has been visiting Brittany for almost half a century, so much so that in 2024 he was awarded the Order of the Ermine in recognition of his contribution to the promotion of the Breton language and Brittany.

Motivation Prize

Ostana Prize 2025 for Translation is awarded to Éamon Ó Ciosáin for his unique and commendable contribution to the knowledge of both Irish Gaelic and Breton. By collaborating on the “Irish-Breton Dictionary” (Loeiz Andouard,1987), he built bridges between the two languages. His trilingual translations of poetic texts are countless: in Gaelic, Breton and French. Important collaborations, of which the “Anthologie de la poésie irlandaise du XXe siècle” is the most shining example, together with the study on translations of Irish-language literature into continental European languages (“Ireland in the European Eye”, in “Royal Irish Academy”, 2019). His efforts earned him the Order of the Ermine in 2024 in recognition of his contribution to the promotion of the Breton language and Brittany in general.

Éamon Ó Ciosáin receives this prize for creating a common understanding between countries and cultures through translation and writing in several languages. His work highlights the richness of cultures and promotes knowledge of languages and their respective
literatures.