Nowadays this is Home Sweet Home, a cottage near a small rural town in the middle of Ireland.

We burn turf on the fire and to cook by, have no light pollution, no neighbours but fresh air and a dome of stars outside the door.

'Everyone has a book in them' isn't quite true............

​​About me......

Maggie O'Brien      

Everyone has a story to tell but

I write, paint, draw and just lately write songs. I guess I'm a wordsmith'speaking 4 languages &

loving the written & spoken word. Gardening takes up a lot of time in Spring and Summer because our gardens are massive. We don't keep pets as we are surrounded by wild-life.

that's another story

All god's chillun' got trav'lin' shoes 

& oh SO much more....

The 'Turf Man' delivers

something else again ...........trust me

In full-time education from 4-22 yrs  of age I abandoned academia in 1974 to travel the world. I hitched, walked, rode trains and ferries that took me to every country in Europe, on up to and through Scandinavia, across to Russia (behind the Iron Curtain) across into Iran , Iraq and Afghanistan, eventually onto India up as far as Tibet. I have turned down some interesting jobs too-  in the Diplomatic Corps., as a tutor in a palace- and even as a psychic advisor to a homicide police unit. ............................but....       

                                                                                                   

overcoming self-doubt to turn that story into a book is......

I'm a qualified teacher but have earned a living in so many ways-- in Bingo Halls, restaurants, bars, cafes, shops, factories, hotels, offices and by teaching in schools, colleges, mental institutions, prisons, an air-force base in Iran and even in a leper colony. 


My biography is still in my ‘mental attic.’ but I can tell you I’ve wanted to be an artist and writer ever since I was a kid. Incredible adventures and a long (and unorthodox) career in teaching delayed my ‘dream’…or perhaps made it possible?