Welcome, gentle reader... Julian Gough is neglecting his blog to spend most of his time exploring the giddy world of Twitter these days. He invites you to follow him, by simply pressing this button: Follow @juliangough
Of course, if you just want the highlights of his glamorous life, keep reading this page... (But if you'd rather read a book, this is his best one.)
Julian standing on the edge of the Hoover Dam. Photo by Phil "The Punk" Rose.
Julian Gough writes serious novels disguised as funny novels. He has been known to win prizes and steal pigs. He was born in London, raised in Tipperary, educated in Galway, and lives in Berlin. You may know his soul via his blog. He once saved the publishing industry.
Julian Gough's novel Jude: Level 1 was shortlisted for the 2008 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction, alongside excellent books by Alan Bennett, Will Self, John Walsh, Garrison Keillor and Joe Dunthorne. (Julian highly recommends Alan Bennett's superb The Uncommon Reader.) Will Self won the prestigious prize. However, certain scandalous events subsequently forced Julian to steal Will Self's pig. (For more information, check out Julian's Blog.)
In April 2007, Julian won the biggest prize in the world for a single short story, the BBC National Short Story Award, for "The Orphan and the Mob". You can read fifteen thousand pounds worth of story, for free, here. (Opening line: "If I had urinated immediately after breakfast, the mob would never have burnt down the orphanage.") The story is also the prologue to his genre-mangling new novel, Jude: Level 1...
Before that, Julian was best known for writing the novel Juno & Juliet.
Julian shows a hint of nipple in the video for Toasted Heretic's "They Didn't Teach Music In My School."He also, in his youth, wrote the words (and sang) on four albums by the cult Galway group, Toasted Heretic.
This site contains Julian Gough's biography, poetry, song lyrics, and his occasional blog. For the brave, there are photographs by (and of) the blighter. There are also links to some of the more interesting interviews. (And if you don't like any of that, there is always his debauched Myspace site.)
Feel free to wander around, post comments, ask questions, or mail Julian...
Enjoy...
Julian Gough steals Will Self's pig... One of his more popular misadventures. As described in his blog.