Brian Keaney is a British author born in Walthamstow, East London. He is an author of mainly young adult fiction, and currently resides in London where he continues work as an author.

Personal life

Brian Keaney was born in 1954 in Walthamstow

Walthamstow

Walthamstow is a district of northeast London, England, located in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is situated north-east of Charing Cross...

, east London, to Irish Catholic

Irish Catholic

Irish Catholic is a term used to describe people who are both Roman Catholic and Irish .Note: the term is not used to describe a variant of Catholicism. More particularly, it is not a separate creed or sect in the sense that "Anglo-Catholic", "Old Catholic", "Eastern Orthodox Catholic" might be...

 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 Jesuits. He did not enjoy his schooldays and reported that some teachers at his secondary school were over fond of administering corporal punishment . His favorite academic subject was English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, although he also had an interest in History

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

 and Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

, 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.

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

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 (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

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)

• Arts in the School Grounds (1996)