"I was born (1961) in Kent England of Irish parents. My father is from Belfast, my Mother from Dublin. We returned to Ireland in 1967, which was not the best year to return to Belfast. Because my education was hindered by the troubles I left school when I was fifteen. I couldn't wait to get out there, earn my own money and experience the world. I left home when I was sixteen and went to London, then Dublin. Over the years I have had many jobs: Butcher boy, Labourer, binman, welder, metal polisher, screenprinter, electronics engineer.
I met Kitty and we married in 1984. When we had our three children I told her I wasn't going back to work and I took a few years off to become a writer and she stuck by me. I was given a scholarship to visit the Poets' House for a summer school by James and Janice Simmons and before I came away from there they awarded me a scholarship to study for my M.A. on Irish and American poetry.
Since then, I now teach creative writing and have been widely published in Ireland and England by the likes of Honest Ulsterman, Poetry Guild, The Poetry Society, The Black Mountain Review, and Coffeehouse.
Recently Lapwing Publications Belfast have published my first book of poems, Hide Dada, Hide. I also had an essay I wrote about the Troubles published by Simon and Schuster. Salmon Publishing, in Galway will publish a collection of my poems in 2002."
http://www.photoaspects.com/poetry/zin...