Cathal Ó Sándair facts for kids

Charles Saunders (1922–1996), gaelicised as Cathal Ó Sándair, was one of the most prolific Irish language authors of the 20th century. An Gúm published 120 of Ó Sándair's books between 1943 and 1984. The annual award for the best book for children and young readers in the Irish language is named Gradam Réics Carló after Ó Sándair's character of the same name.

Biography

Cathal Ó Sándair was born Charles Saunders in Weston-super-Mare, England on 15 July 1922. His father, Simon Saunders, was a professional boxer from Dorset, England. He fought under the name Darkey Saunders and once fought Jimmy Wilde. His mother was from Camden Street in Dublin. His parents met in Bristol when his mother worked in a munitions factory and his father worked as a tram driver. His family moved to Ireland when he two months old. Ó Sándair attended Synge Street CBS in Dublin and Coláiste Chiaráin in Bray.

Ó Sándair joined the Irish Air Corps before moving to Louth, and joining the civil service as a customs officer. He married in 1949 and had four children with his wife. In 1954, Ó Sándair left his job in the civil service to focus on writing full time. However, by 1957, due to falling sales numbers, he struggled to support his family financially and considered emigrating to Canada. He returned to work for the civil service in 1963 and remained there until he retired in 1987.

Literary Career

While attending Coláiste Chiaráin, Ó Sándair published a story in the first issue of the magazine An Gael Óg in 1938 under the pen name Cuan Aoibheann. Ó Sándair's first novel for children, Tríocha Píosa Airgid, was published in 1942. Due to a post-war paper shortage, An Gúm was restricted to publishing only a small number of Ó Sándair's novels a year in the 1940s.

Na Mairbh a d’Fhill was published in 1943 and was the first novel to feature private detective Réics Carló as the main character. The book sold over 1000 copies within the first month, and ultimately 9000 copies in total despite paper shortages. Ó Sándair published 45 books featuring Réics Carló with An Gúm. An Gúm reprinted Ó Sándair's first two novels starring Réics Carló, Na Mairbh a d’Fhil and An tEitleán Dofheicthe, in 2022.

Ó Sándair wrote in a wide variety of genres. In addition to the many adventures of Réics Carló, Ó Sándair wrote a series of western novels featuring the character Réamonn Óg. A third strand of his fiction centred on school adventures where boys and girls inevitably save the day. He also wrote a science fiction series about the space-pilot Captaen Spéirling, which had certain similarities with Dan Dare.

Following his return to the civil service, Ó Sándair took a long break from writing novels in the 1960s and 70s.

Ó Sándair is reputed to have published 160 books (some of which remain unpublished) and sold more than 500,000 copies.