Tom McCaughren

Tom McCaughren was born in Ballymena, County Antrim.

He began work as a journalist in the Courier and News, Dungannon, County Tyrone and in time moved to the Ballymena Weekly Telegraph, a branch of The Belfast Telegraph.

Tom went on to join The Irish Times, where he worked as a reporter for 13 years before going to RTE, later becoming Security Correspondent. Tom covered most of the major crimes in the Republic as well as the Defence Forces UN operations in the Middle East, Cyprus, Lebanon, Egypt and Syria.

His writing was done in his spare time, mostly at weekends. His first book, The Peacemakers of Niemba, was written while working for The Irish Times. That was an account of the ambush of an Irish UN patrol in the Congo resulting in the deaths of nine soldiers at the hands of Baluba warriors. In later years, while at RTE, Tom began writing stories for young people.

Run with the Wind was the first book in what would become Tom McCaughren’s famous Fox Series. In the late seventies, early eighties, the fox had almost disappeared from the Irish countryside due to excessive snaring for the fur trade. Many felt that it was only a matter of time before the fox would be wiped out.

Before writing Tom spent two years researching various aspects of nature and wildlife. Accompanied by his wife and youngest daughters, he observed hunts in the Carlow area, his wife’s hometown. He studied foxes, badgers, birds, insects, plants, flowers, the changing seasons, he even got to know a fox trapper in Luggacurran in Laois and learned how snares were made! Through the perspective of the fox these wonderful children’s stories teach us about their struggle with mankind and their fight for survival.

Tom lives in Terenure in Dublin with his family.