About John

I am originally from Belfast, now living in Dublin. I am an architect but have swapped the pencil and drawing board for a pen and keyboard.

I grew up in west Belfast, born in 1967, through the thick of ‘The Troubles’. In the 1970s strikes were called, leaving us without gas or electricity and food was in short supply as delivery drivers refused to enter the Falls Road. Nevertheless, I had a very happy childhood growing up and loved my parents, two brothers and a beautiful sister, sadly now departed.

I joined Beechmount Harriers Running Club at the age of 14, completing full marathons in Dublin and Derry. I also had a window cleaning round at weekends which kept me off the streets. West Belfast was a warzone when I was growing up. Rioting was commonplace and I would witness gun and bomb violence on a daily basis. But, these were just normal times for people living through The Troubles and everyone made the best of what they could. I enjoyed drawing and writing poetry in my spare time. 

I found work, after leaving school at 16, in an architects company in Belfast, before moving to England at the age of 20 to work and study. I became a chartered architect before moving back to Ireland in 1999, where I worked for architecture firms and a development company, while continuing to write two plays and two books of poetry. I was short-listed for a play-writing competition run by a national theatre, finishing in second place.

After the financial crash, I moved into property management going from running a large architecture team to collecting commercial and retail debt. I opened my own architectural practice in 2016.

Some of my architectural work can be viewed on https://jamtravelogue.com/architecture

When my wife passed away in 2020, I travelled a lot and wound-down my architecture business. I set up a creative hub / website for my art and photography, walking videos etc. visit www.jamtravelogue.com 

I have always enjoyed writing and started my first book, Good Friday 1998 in 2023.

I have also completed the sequel, Good Friday 2018, and am currently going through the editorial process - I hope to release this an an ebook in a couple of months. And West Belfast Man book of poetry will also hit the online bookshelf shortly.