A NEW SPOKEN-WORD album from the late writer and broadcaster Manchán Magan is set to be released in October.

Slí na Samhlaíochta (The Way of Imagination) will be released by Claddagh Records on 5 October, just over a year after Magan’s death at the age of 55.

The four-track album features Magan’s spoken-word performance alongside music composed by Myles O’Reilly, under the musical direction of Simon O’Reilly.

It has its origins in a performance at the Hedge School Festival in Doolin in 2023, where Magan presented a spoken-word piece exploring Tír na nÓg, the Otherworld and themes that would become familiar throughout his later work.

Myles and Simon O’Reilly created an improvised ambient score to accompany Magan’s performance, while visual artist Crosby Dunkley provided a graphic narrative.

Following Magan’s death in October last year, Simon O’Reilly revisited a recording of the performance and, with the support of Magan’s wife Aisling and brother Ruán, began developing it into an album.

It was subsequently recorded at the National Concert Hall with Crash Ensemble, vocalist Branwen Kavanagh and harpist Méabh McKenna, before further recording took place in Doolin with violinist Ultan O’Brien and double bassist Neil O’Loughlin.

Cover art for the album.

A sold-out performance celebrating the album’s release will take place at the National Concert Hall on 5 October.

Lisa O’Neill, Liam Ó Maonlaí, Colm Mac Con Iomaire, Crash Ensemble and a number of the musicians who feature on the record are due to take part.

Magan, an author, documentary maker and broadcaster, became one of Ireland’s best-known advocates for the Irish language and its relationship with the country’s landscape, mythology and culture.

His television career began with Irish-language travel programmes in the 1990s, while his later work included No Béarla and the bestselling book Thirty-Two Words for Field.

Magan was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2023 and continued writing and broadcasting following his diagnosis. He died in Dublin on 2 October last year.

His final documentary, Listen to the Land Speak, aired on RTÉ in July 2025, while his final book, Ireland in Iceland – Gaelic Remnants in a Nordic Land, was published that year.

The new album can be pre-ordered here.