Joe Buckley
I was born within a few miles of Croghan Hill, an extinct volcano in the Irish midlands, and within a hundred metres of the infamous Daingean Reformatory School for boys. My parents were teachers, which was lucky for me. It meant that I would escape the worst effects of poverty, unlike the unfortunate boys who were imprisoned behind the Reformatory walls, or those who would later be forced to take the emigrant boat to England. My other stroke of luck was that I discovered books before a television set came into our house.
My love for teaching surfaced early too. While on holidays from secondary school I worked as a substitute teacher in local primary schools. After secondary school, I lived as a monk for two years before I found a place in University College Dublin where I read English and Latin. College summers found me in England laying railway tracks or bus conducting or labouring on construction sites. The scent of ionised air still brings me back to my first descent into the London Tube.
After I qualified as a secondary teacher, my wife and I spent several years in Canada where I discovered canoeing, rafting and hunting. Returning to Ireland I taught in several schools before becoming Head of English in Salesian College, Celbridge.
My early reading of ‘Huckleberry Finn’, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, ‘Great Expectations’ and ‘Catcher in the Rye’, along with my love for sports and the outdoor life, would become strong influences in his novels. My characters are often young people who have to rely on their own resources to survive in a dangerous world. Searching for absent parents, dramatic chases, tense escapes, the bond of friendship and courageous resistance to wickedness and injustice – these are some of the ingredients of my novels.
Joe’s books
Run Donny Run – Wolfhound Press, Dublin. 1991
Donny in London – Wolfhound Press, Dublin. 1992
Donny Goes for Goal – Wolfhound Press, Dublin. 1993
Firebolt (Fantasy) – Wolfhound Press, Dublin. 1998
Techcorp (Sci-Fi) – Wordsonthestreet, Galway. 2010
The Brendan Expedition – Amazon Kindle 2017
Fickle Currents – Amazon Kindle 2018
Fionn and the Kid (Revised) – Amazon Kindle 2020
Caesar’s Conscript (Historical Fiction) – Amazon Kindle 2020
Coming – Late 2020:
Sonny
Ytrion - City of the Orelord (Sequel to Firebolt)
Billy Harry
