Joe Neal

Joe Neal was born in North Wales half-way up a mountain overlooking the sea. He has been living in Edenvale, County Wexford, for the past 29 years – near a waterfall. He trained as an actor with Colchester Repertory Company before attending the University of Nottingham. He has divided his professional life between acting and journalism – working in London for the Times, the Guardian, the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Express. As an actor he has appeared on stage in London’s West End and in Dublin at the Abbey and Gate theatres and in provincial theatres in the UK. He has also performed on television and radio in Britain and Ireland. He writes extensively on natural history and the countryside and has published four collections of poetry – Telling it at a Slant (2013), Turn Now the Tide (2014), Hear the Colour (2015) and Still Rise the Sun (2016). All are available on Amazon or from major book stores. His fifth collection – The Next Blue Note was published in June this year. Joe was the winner of the Anthony Cronin prize for poetry at the Wexford Literary Festival 2017.