Brian Keaney (born 1954) is a British author. He is an author of mainly young adult fiction, who currently resides in London where he continues work as an author.

Early life and career

Brian Keaney was born in Walthamstow,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, to

Irish Catholic Irish Catholics are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. They have a large diaspora, which includes over 36 million American citizens and over 14 million British citizens (a quarter of the Briti ...

parents. He reported that he learned about narrative by listening to his mother who was a natural storyteller. He attended a Catholic primary school in London which was run by nuns and a secondary school run by

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. He did not enjoy his schooldays and reported that some teachers at his secondary school were overly fond of administering corporal punishment. His favorite academic subject was English, although he also had an interest in

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, particularly liking Latin poetry. Keaney eventually pursued a career as an English teacher. A librarian at a school he was working at introduced him to young adult fiction, piquing his interest so that he decided to write his own.

Personal life

Keaney currently lives in London with his wife. He has two grown up daughters.

Writing bibliography

Fiction

*''Don't Hang About'' (1986) *''Some People Never Learn'' (1986) *''No Need for Heroes'' (1989) *''If This Is the Real World'' (1991) *''Limited Damage'' (1991) *''Boys Don't Write Love Stories'' (1993) *''Family Secrets'' (1997) *''The Private Life of Georgia Brown'' (1998) *''Bitter Fruit'' (1999) *''Balloon House'' (2000) *''Falling for Joshua'' (2001) *''No Stone Unturned'' (2001) *''Where Mermaids Sing'' (2004) *''

Jacob's Ladder Jacob's Ladder ( he, סֻלָּם יַעֲקֹב ) is a ladder leading to heaven that was featured in a dream the biblical Patriarch Jacob had during his flight from his brother Esau in the Book of Genesis (chapter 28). The significance of th ...

'' (2005) Promises of Dr. Sigmundus *''The Hollow People'' (2006) *''The Gallow Glass/The Cracked Mirror'' (2007) *''The Mendini Canticle/The Resurrection Fields'' (2008) Nathaniel Wolfe *''The Haunting of Nathaniel Wolfe'' (2008) *''Nathaniel Wolfe and the Body Snatchers'' (2009) The Magical Detective Agency *''The Magical Detectives'' (2011) *''The Magical Detectives and the Forbidden Spell'' (2011)

Non-fiction

*''Making Sense of English'' (1987) *''Talking Sense'' (1987) *''Sharing Experience'' (1991) *''Taking Shape'' (1991) *''Presenting Ideas'' (1992) *''English in the School Grounds'' (1993) *''The Way to Pass National Curriculum English: The Easy Way to Learn And Revise: 11-13 Years Level 5'' (1994) (with

Carol Vorderman Carol Jean Vorderman, HonFIET (born 24 December 1960) is a Welsh media personality, best known for appearing on the game show ''Countdown'' for 26 years from 1982 until 2008, as a newspaper columnist and nominal author of educational and diet ...

) *''Arts in the School Grounds'' (1996)

Plays

*''A Kiss from France'' (1990) *''Boycott'' (1991) *''Between Two Shores'' (1991)

Picture books

*''Only Made of Wood'' (1998) *''That's What Friends Are For'' (2003)

References

*Keaney, B 'Brian Keaney' http://www.briankeaney.com/index.php *Jubilee Books 'Author Profile - Brian Keaney' https://web.archive.org/web/20091009013303/http://www.jubileebooks.co.uk/jubilee/magazine/authors/brian_keaney/brian_keaney.asp *Fantastic Fiction 'Brian Keaney' http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/k/brian-keaney/

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Keaney, Brian 1954 births British children's writers English children's writers Living people Writers from London People from Walthamstow English people of Irish descent 20th-century English novelists 21st-century English novelists