Kevin Doyle is the author of the political crime thrillers - To Keep A Bird Singing (2018) and A River of Bodies (2019) – published by Blackstaff Press. Set in the Cork and west Cork, the books explore the murky world of Special Branch collusion with a network of abusers inside the Catholic Church. David Park described To Keep A Bird Singing as “… a thrilling debut that looks corruption in the eye and never blinks.” Books Ireland’s verdict was “highly, highly recommended”.

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Born in Cork in 1961, Kevin attended University College, Cork where he studied chemistry and later completed a Masters in Organic Synthesis. He worked in the chemical industrial in Ireland and later in the United States. After travelling extensively in Australia, Asia and Central America he returned to Ireland where he now lives. ​Kevin’s short stories have been published in many literary journals in Ireland, the UK, the USA and in Australia. Shortlisted for awards such as the Hennessy Literary Award, The Seán O’Faoláin Prize and The Ian St James International Short Story Award, he has won the Tipperary Short Story Prize and the Michael McLaverty Award. His stories have been included in notable anthologies such as Irish Writers Against War and The Hennessy Book of Irish Short Fiction and From The Plough To The Stars. A full listing can be found here. With illustrator, Spark Deeley, he wrote the award-winning children’s picture book The Worms That Saved the World. Kevin is a former chairperson of the Irish Writers Union (2021-23).

 

Kevin has received funding from the Arts Council of Ireland and works freelance in a number of writing disciplines. He also teaches creative writing in the community sector and has contributed to a range of projects under the aegis of Cork City Library, including the award-winning tactile books project, Growing Imaginations, piloted at Bishopstown Library (Cork). More recently he has worked at mentoring up and coming writers.

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Apart from fiction, Kevin has written extensively about Irish and radical politics from an anarchist/ libertarian socialist perspective. He has been active over many decades in a range of campaigns as diverse as Support The Miners, Free Nicky Kelly, Dunnes Strike Support Group, Free The Old Head, Grassroots Network Against War, Am-Bush, The Anti-Water Tax Campaign and most recently in Together For Yes (Repeal 8th).