About me…

Hi, Welcome to my author website. This is the page where I need to say a bit about me – so here goes….

My work

As well as wearing my writer hat, I have worked as a TV producer and journalist. I’ve made factual television programmes for all the major UK TV channels including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. I’ve written features for a number of UK national newspapers/magazines and during a year spent in Bermuda, I was a guest columnist for the Bermuda Sun newspaper. I’ve also been involved in teaching university undergraduate/post graduate broadcast journalism students. Both myself and my husband Paul visit a local care home with our cockapoo Bonnie who is a Pets As Therapy (PAT) dog.

Where I live

I live with my husband Paul in beautiful Cornwall, with a beach view across Mount’s Bay and St Michael’s Mount. It’s a lovely place to live with a great creative vibe.

Favourite authors

Far too many to mention but here are a few: Val McDermid and Peter James (Crime); Charles Dickens especially ‘Great Expectations’ ; DH Lawrence; Edna O’Brien.

Gongs

A documentary I produced about the Birmingham Pub Bombings won a Royal Television Society award and an ITV ‘Tonight’ current affairs programme was shortlisted for the UK Medical Journalism Awards. In 2011 my story ‘Namesakes’ was a finalist in the Writers and Artists Yearbook (Bloomsbury) Short story Competition. This grew into my debut novel ‘My Bermuda Namesakes’.

A favourite saying:

‘Be yourself; everyone else is taken’ – Oscar Wilde

And finally….

I’m a great believer in creative writing as a form of therapy and I’ve helped someone to realise their ambition of writing a children’s story. Half of the proceeds from my short stories collection ‘Shorts and Thoughts’ will go to the Social Workers’ Benevolent Trust charity.

• Facebook Author page: @MaggieJFogarty
• Twitter: @WestEndGal1
• Instagram: @JosieW100

I’m also a founding member of the West Cornwall Media Club @WestCornwallMediaClub