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Julian Gough

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For the scientist, see Julian Gough (scientist).

Julian Gough
BornJune 1966 (age 58)
NationalityIrish
EducationUniversity College Galway
Websitejuliangough.com

Julian Gough (born June 1966) is an Irish musician, novelist, and poet. Initially known as the singer and lyricist for the Galway band Toasted Heretic, he has since established a career as a satirist, novelist, commentator and writer of children's books. Musically, he is best known for his songs "Galway and Los Angeles", "You can Always go Home" and "LSD (isn't what it used to be)"; his fictional works include "The Orphan and the Mob" (the first chapter of his novel Jude: Level 1), which won the BBC National Short Story Award in 2007, and the End Poem that appears at the end of Minecraft.

Career

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Gough grew up near Heathrow Airport in London, before moving to Nenagh aged seven.[1] He was studying English and philosophy at University College Galway in the late 1980s when he and some friends founded Toasted Heretic. The band recorded four albums and had one top-10 hit, "Galway and Los Angeles", in 1992.[2][3] Gough's first novel, Juno & Juliet, was published in 2001 by Flamingo, almost a decade after Toasted Heretic split up. His second novel, Jude: Level 1, was published in 2007[4] at Old Street Publishing, shortly after he won the 2007 National Short Story Award for the book's first chapter, titled "The Orphan and the Mob".[5]

In 2010, Salmon Poetry released Gough's first poetry collection, Free Sex Chocolate, which juxtaposes Gough's more recent forays into poetry with his earlier lyrics written for Toasted Heretic.[6] He is also the author of several short stories and novellas that satirize global economic policies, including 2003's Great Hargeisa Goat Bubble[7] and CRASH! How I Lost a Hundred Billion and Found True Love. In 2015, Gough signed a book deal with Picador.[8]

In November 2011, Gough was invited by Markus Persson, creator of Minecraft, to create a story for the ending of the game, in preparation for its release.[9] The resulting work, called the End Poem, has been described as both confusing to[10] and revered by[11] the Minecraft community. After a psilocybin trip prompted Gough to consider the poem's line "The Universe loves you because you are love" and the love he had received but not accepted for the poem, he wrote an essay on his Substack in December 2022 explaining that he had never signed a contract with either of Minecraft's parent companies, releasing the original version of the poem into the public domain.[12][13]

Gough writes columns and opinion pieces for various newspapers and magazines, including The Guardian,[14] Prospect Magazine[15] and A Public Space.[16] His novel Jude in London came third in the 2011 Guardian Not The Booker prize[17] after the author threatened to share pictures of him "wearing only the [Not The Booker trophy] mug" should he win the competition.[18]

In 2016, Gough, in collaboration with illustrator Jim Field, published A Rabbit's Bad Habits, the first installment of the Rabbit and Bear series of children's books.[19] By 2024, the series has grown to six books[20] and has been translated into over thirty languages. [21]

In 2022, he announced The Egg and the Rock, an upcoming book in which Gough aims to explore the nature of the universe as an evolving organism subject to natural selection. Parts of the book are being written and published in public.[22]

Publications

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  • I Totes Love the Christian Brothers (Self-published, 1978)
  • Juno & Juliet (Flamingo, 2001) ISBN 978-0-00-710810-7
  • Jude: Level 1 (Old Street, 2007) ISBN 978-1-905847-24-2
  • Free Sex Chocolate (Salmon Poetry, 2010) ISBN 978-1-907056-36-9
  • Jude in London (Old Street, 2011) ISBN 978-1-905847-83-9
  • "End Poem" from Minecraft (2011).
  • Rabbit's Bad Habits (Hodder Children's Books, 2016) ISBN 978-1444921687
  • Rabbit and Bear: The Pest in the Nest (Hodder Children's Books, 2017) ISBN 978-1444921717
  • Connect (Doubleday, 2018) ISBN 978-0-385541-33-6
  • Rabbit and Bear: A Bite in the Night (Hodder Children's Books, 2019) ISBN 1667203851
  • Rabbit and Bear: This Lake is Fake (Hodder Children's Books, 2024) ISBN 978-1444947571

References

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  1. ^ Barter, Pavel (27 April 2014). "Making the Leap". The Sunday Times (Irish ed.) – via NewsBank.
  2. ^ Gough, Julian (2 October 2005). "The bedsit of horrors - Time and place". The Sunday Times (Irish ed.) – via NewsBank.
  3. ^ Murphy, Peter (4 June 2009). "Choose your top 20 indie moments!". Hot Press.
  4. ^ "Writer Profile Julian Gough". Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
  5. ^ "BBC National Short Story Award". Booktrust. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
  6. ^ "Free Sex Chocolate – Poems and Songs". salmonpoetry.com. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
  7. ^ "The Great Hargeisa Goat Bubble - Julian Gough's website". www.juliangough.com. Archived from the original on 2 July 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  8. ^ Doyle, Martin (16 April 2015). "Julian Gough signs major book deal with Picador". The Irish Times. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  9. ^ Chatfield, Tom (9 January 2012). "Ending an endless game: an interview with Julian Gough, author of Minecraft's epic finale". Boing Boing. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  10. ^ Creswell, Jacob (26 December 2022). "Does Minecraft's Ending Actually Mean Anything?". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  11. ^ Moloney, Eoghan (8 December 2022). "Irishman who wrote Minecraft's revered 'End Poem' gives words away for free after declining to sign over rights to Microsoft". Irish Independent. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  12. ^ Gough, Julian (7 December 2022). "I wrote a story for a friend". theeggandtherock.substack.com. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  13. ^ Gault, Matthew (8 December 2022). "Guy Who Wrote Minecraft's Ending Poem Makes It Public Domain After Taking Shrooms". Motherboard. Vice News. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  14. ^ Gough, Julian (17 September 2007). "A New Way With Words". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 May 2011. The traditional division between the novel and short story is becoming increasingly blurred.
  15. ^ Gough, Julian (26 May 2007). "Divine Comedy". Prospect Magazine. Archived from the original on 27 August 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2011. It's time writers got back to the serious business of making us laugh.
  16. ^ Gough, Julian (2010). "Reality is a Bananaskin on Which we Must Step". A Public Space. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
  17. ^ Jordison, Sam (18 October 2011). "Not the Booker prize: we have a winner!". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  18. ^ Jordison, Sam (18 August 2011). "Not the Booker prize 2011: the shortlist". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  19. ^ Brennan, Marjorie (24 August 2021). "Julian Gough: An adventurous journey from Toasted Heretic to Rabbit & Bear". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  20. ^ "Rabbit and Bear: This Lake is Fake!". Hachette. December 2024.
  21. ^ "Nenagh author's Minecraft link". Nenagh Guardian. 19 December 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  22. ^ "What the James Webb Space Telescope can do is astonishing. Let me take you on a mind-blowing journey". Irish Times. 23 September 2022.
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