John Waters was born in the West of Ireland, in 1955. Followingsecondary school, he pursued a range of occupations including railwayclerk, showband roadie, petrol pump attendant and mailcar driver.
He began part-time work as a a journalist in 1981, with Hot Press, Ireland’s leading rock ‘n’ roll magazine. He became a full-time writer for Hot Press in 1984, when he moved to Dublin. As a journalist, magazine editor and columnist, he has specialised in raising unpopular issues of public importance, most recently the issue of the hidden mistreatment of fatherhood in Irish society, particularly in relation to legally protected relationships between fathers and children. He has published a number of books and written several plays for stage and radio. His books include: Jiving at the Crossroads (Blackstaff,1991), a highly personal look at Irish politics which became a major Irish bestseller; Race of Angels (4th Estate/Blackstaff,1994), an exploration of Irish popular culture with particular reference to U2 and their Irish sensibility, published in both Ireland and Britain. His more recent publications include: Lapsed Agnostic (Continuum, 2007), the story of his journey through faith, agnosticism and back, published by Continuum in November 2007; and, a development of these themes, Beyond Consolation.
His most recent book is Was It For This? Why Ireland Lost the Plot (TransWorld, 2012), tracing the loss of core values and passions in Irish culture leading to Ireland’s continuing in 2015 is Men Without Chests (Bloomsbury), a study of the dinsintegration of reason in the public thought process of Ireland.
John Waters is also a songwriter, working mainly with his old friend Tommy Moran.
John Waters has a daughter, Roisin, born March 10th 1996.