I was born and grew up in Walthamstow, East London. My parents were Irish. My mother came from West Cork and my father from Leitrim and as a child I spent every summer holiday in Ireland, running wild in the fields.
We did not have many books in our house but my mother was a natural storyteller. Without even realising it, she turned everything she said into a story. So from an early age I had a sense of how a tale could be told and re-told.
I was educated by nuns and by Jesuit priests. They didn’t hesitate to use the cane and I spent a lot of time feeling terrified; but they also showed me possibilities I might never have glimpsed otherwise. My favourite subjects were English, History and Latin.
While I was at school I made up my mind I would become a writer. After leaving school I went to university in Liverpool where I studied English because I thought it might help me learn to write. I’m not convinced it did, but I did enjoy being in Liverpool. The city seemed more Irish than English to me and I felt at completely at home there.
I fell in love while I was at university and, as soon as I left, I got married. I got a job as a teacher and that was how I discovered all the children’s books that I didn’t get to read when I was growing up. Soon I was reading stories to my pupils every day and then reading more stories to my own children at night. So it’s not surprising that I began my writing career as a children’s novelist.
Over the years I have written twenty books for young people and they have been translated into a variety of languages. Now that my parenting days are over, I’m allowing myself to write books for adults as well.
I have also spent time teaching writing. I’ve been Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Goldsmith’s College, The London College of Fashion, St Mary’s College, Strawberry Hill and the City and Guilds of London School of Art. For a number of years I taught on the summer programme of Pembroke & Kings Colleges, Cambridge. I continue to work with developing writers, editing and mentoring.
I still live in London but we also have a family house in Ireland and that is where you will find me when I’m looking for inspiration. I like to sit on a rock above our house and watch the clouds march across the sky.
Contact
You can contact me at brian@briankeaney.co.uk
