About the author

David Donohue had a relatively happy childhood in the town of Carlow, Ireland, spending most of it on a local farm (which is now a supermarket). When he was six or seven he discovered that he could spell backwards, so a strange thing happened - a cow suddenly became a woc, a sheep became a peehs, and a horse became a esroh. But the strangest thing of all was when his overweight dog, Towser, became a god!

At age twelve David saved a drowning dog and was awarded a medal for ‘humanity to animals’ from the Irish Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals which is, to this day, his most prized possession.

On leaving school David worked with a veterinary surgeon for a year, then spent a year working on a stud farm with his favourite animals of all, thoroughbred racehorses. Due to a strange encounter on a beach he suddenly headed off to art college to study graphic design, but, as he is colourblind, that wasn’t such a great idea (nobody would give him a job).

After four years in art college, David headed to New York and re-invented himself as a music journalist, interviewing some very famous people. He also became a music-supervisor for feature films, most notably working on the Oscar nominated movie, In America. Discovering a passion for song writing David went back to Ireland, where he formed a band called The Floors and released three albums.

But David’s writing talent didn’t stop at music – he also had a gift for storytelling…

David was advised by a writer friend to ‘write about what you know’ so he wrote about a boy from a small town who can spell backwards and Walter Speazlebud was born!

Moon Man is a Walter Speazlebud adventure that indulges David in one of his favourite subjects: the 1969 moon landing. David believes that it never happened, it was all a hoax, at least until Walter Speazlebud turned up…

Alien Timebomb, David's second book finds Walter Speazlebud, the boy with the amazing talent for spelling backwards, back for another time travelling adventure!

David has recently taken up fishing but he puts the fish back. Did I mention that he does yoga every day and has invented an exercise routine called Dry Swimming, which is swimming without water?!

If you would like to get in touch with David, you can email him here: Send Email