author
Patrick M. Foley
A Kerry writer and local historian, he captured the folklore, customs, and everyday memory of Ireland’s far southwest in vivid detail. His work preserves a world of West Kerry and the Blasket Islands that might otherwise have slipped away.
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About the author
Patrick M. Foley was an Irish writer, historian, and nationalist from West Kerry. Contemporary reports about his life describe him as a native of the Daingean Uí Chúis peninsula who published important early accounts of both the peninsula and the Blasket Islands, and the National Library of Ireland catalog dates him to 1872–1930.
He is best known for books such as Irish Historical Allusions, Curious Customs and Superstitions, County of Kerry, Corkaguiny, a work that gathers local history, belief, and tradition. His writing has a strong sense of place, focusing on the people, language, and remembered life of a distinctive part of Ireland.
Although he is not widely known today, later coverage of his life has noted both the value of his books and the dramatic story of his death in the United States. What remains clearest from the available sources is his role as an early recorder of West Kerry’s cultural memory.