Dáithí Ó hÓgáin was born in Bruff, County Limerick, on 13 June 1949, a son of former jockey Davy Hogan and Mary (née Tyrell).
[citation needed] Dáithí Ó hÓgáin wrote many books, including six poetry collections and one in English, and three short story collections,[1] eight research books, and numerous research articles on literature, folklore, history and etymology, in scholarly journals and in encyclopaedias.
One notable effort was the massive tome, Myth, Legend and Romance - an Encyclopaedia of the Irish Folk Tradition (1990), later reissued under the title The Lore of Ireland: an Encyclopaedia of Myth, Legend and Romance (2006), covering a wide range of folkloric material, from ancient times into the modern.
[4] He was instrumental in drafting UNESCO's recommendations on the protection of world folklore in 1987, and was co-founder of the European Center for Traditional Culture in Budapest in 1994.
[2] He lectured and read his poetry throughout Ireland and other countries: England, Comre, Scotland, France, Monaco, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Russia, Hungary and Iceland.