JULIAN GOUGH may have been born in London, raised in Tipperary, and be resident in Berlin, but Galway will always claim him as ‘one of our own’.
His time in the city was an important and formative period for the man and saw him come to national attention as the charismatic front man and witty, inspired, lyricist of Galway indie-rockers Toasted Heretic.
The noughties saw Julian turn to writing novels and both Juno and Juliet and Jude: Level 1 were set in Galway and featured a host of local characters. The novels also displayed his off the wall imagination and were much praised for their hilarious comedy.
“Julian Gough is a wonderful writer,” declared Sebastian Barry, while the Sunday Independent compared him to Flann O’Brien. Olaf Tyaransen said “Jude makes most other contemporary Irish novels look like a pile of puke”, while City of Bohane author Kevin Barry said Julian’s work is “clever, it’s nuts, and there are moments of comic greatness”.
This month sees Julian deliver the sequel to Jude: Level 1 (aka Jude In Ireland ) with Jude In London, published by Old Street Publishing.
Here Jude is a penniless Irish orphan, fighting blizzards, bankers and the laws of physics as he walks the length of England. He has not one, but two quests: to find his True Love – last glimpsed in the hairy clutches of a monkey – and to uncover the secret of his origins.
Within hours of arriving in London, Jude has floored the monkey, won the Turner Prize, battled The Thing, and killed the Poet Laureate. Before the day is out he will be seduced, shot at, kidnapped, and forced to discuss literature with a crowd of Guinness-guzzling authors. However can he fulfil his destiny in the labyrinth of the city, with its ten million temptations?
Jude In London is availalbe in Galway bookshops now.
