Brendan Gillen is a butcher born in Ireland. Aftern moving to England, he enlisted in one of the British army's elite infantry regiments, The Green Jackets. He slogged through the Libyan desert and put down race riots in British Cuyanan. He represented the British army at the Nato Military Sports Festival in Germany and fought in Malaya and Borneo in 1965, and finished his military service as the regimental butcher in Berlin. He came to canada in 1967 and spent two years as a butcher before being a first aid attendant, blaster, driller, barman and ski patroller. He worked in a pulp mill for ten years as a fire fighter, first aid attendent, security guard and safety specialist. His first book, self-published in 1994 was The Safetyman from Hell: A Book of Work Poems.

BOOKS:

The Safetyman from Hell: A Book of Work Poems (Kimberly, BC: Self-Published, 1994)
Celtic Cowboy: Cowboy Poetry with an Irish Twist, illustrations by Walter Comper (Kimberly, BC: Self-Published, 1996)
Wreck Bay 1970 (Nelson, BC: Ballymote Publications, 1998)
Losing Mary: Marriage Breakup, a Survivor's story (Ballymote Books, 2001)
Finding Me: Irish Stew for the Loveless (Ballymote Books, 2003)

[BCBW 2004] "Poetry"