birth_place nationality image article_title education name occupation alma_mater
youghal , county cork irish colm keane - author.jpg colm keane
 b.a. -lrb- mod . -rrb- , m.a. , m.a. colm keane author , broadcaster , journalist trinity d.c. college , dublin ; georgetown university , washington
colm keane

colm keane is an author , broadcaster and journalist who has published 25 books , including six no. 1 irish bestsellers .
keane was born in youghal , county cork , on 15 september 1951 .
he attended trinity college , dublin , where he graduated with a b.a. mod. , m.a. in economics and political science .
further postgraduate studies were undertaken at georgetown university , washington d.c. , where he received an m.a. in economics .
he joined the irish national broadcaster , radio telefís Éireann , in 1977 , where he initially worked as a television journalist .
he co-presented the weekly investigative series public account with pat kenny , and he worked as a reporter on the current affairs programme today tonight .
while in television , he won a glaxo fellowship for european science writers for his scripting and presentation of the science series a future in mind .
in the early 1980s , keane moved to rtÉ radio 1 , where he worked as a reporter , presenter , producer and series producer .
he won a jacob 's award in 1988 for american profiles , which featured a visit to death row in texas , a profile of an auschwitz survivor living in new york and a feature documentary on nasa astronaut james irwin .
as a radio producer , he compiled and presented documentaries based on interviews with legendary musical figures including burt bacharach , cat stevens , davy jones of the monkees , dave davies of the kinks , chubby checker , engelbert humperdinck , pete seeger , val doonican , glen campbell , neil sedaka and more than 140 other performers and musicians .
among his documentary subjects was former manchester united footballer george best .
he also produced and presented a belfast game , profiling the troubles in northern ireland through the experiences of the ardoyne kickhams under-16 football team .
this programme would later inspire the andrew lloyd webber west end production , the beautiful game .
colm 's radio presentation work included studio 10 , which he co-presented with future president of ireland , mary mcaleese .
having retired from broadcasting in 2003 , keane embarked on a career as a full-time author and was responsible for the national bestsellers going home -lrb- no. 1 -rrb- , we 'll meet again -lrb- no. 1 -rrb- , heading for the light -lrb- no. 1 -rrb- , the distant shore and forewarned .
most of the content of these books was based on research with survivors of near-death experiences .
he also wrote two national no. 1 bestsellers on the italian saint padre pio -- padre pio : the irish connection and padre pio : the scent of roses .
married to rtÉ newsreader , Úna o'hagan , the couple 's only son seán keane died in 2007 .
in 2008 , he set up the publishing company capel island press .
the company 's first book was written by colm and called the beatles irish concerts .
since its inception , it has published four no. 1 bestsellers .
he currently lives in county waterford .
