Patrick Hughes Ph.D.

My name is Patrick Hughes. I was born in Co Kilkenny, Ireland, and like the Kilkenny cats as we are called, I have had many lives.

Kilkenny has a Norman Castle, an ancient Cathedral Church plus Round Tower. The first seat of Irish government, it later saw the mistress of a tavern, Dame Kittler sentenced to be burnt to death for witchcraft.

So I sucked up history as I grew to adulthood, when I became a priest and worked for ten years in Brazilian shantytowns during the period of military dictatorship. It was there I wet my feet in human rights activism. See my YA novel, "Shantytown".

I then moved to New York, and taught sociology in the City University of New York. I edited and introduced a book of theoretical essays by my deceased friend, Emil Oestereicher, "Thinking, Feeling and Doing", wrote articles on religious developments in the Catholic Church, and on the resurgence of evangelical religion in the US. I promoted human rights in Brazil with a member of Jimmy Carter's State Department, and organized the New York Forum on Brazil 1978/79. I also translated Leonard Boff from Portuguese into English. See "Jesus Christ Liberator".

In January 1992, I went on a peacekeeping mission with the United Nations to Cambodia, then to South Africa, and on to Angola where I retired in 2003 as Deputy Director of the Human Rights Division after the civil war ended. See my fictional human rights thriller, "Three Stars Above Luanda". In this period I also published humorous short stories for children and wrote human rights plays for TV, radio, which were also staged in the National Theater in Angola. Here in Florida I have written and directed two plays.

So the cat has had yet another life in retirement. All my lives have been exciting to say the least, and at times, even dangerous. While I always had the ability to see the funny and ironic side of things, I dedicated my life to rather serious stuff in the pursuit of the common good. Successful or not, I have to agree with the aphorism: dedication and hard work never killed anyone, even if it did not make much money for me. I hope my readers enjoy my work even if it has a serious side to it.

I am married, and have two wonderful children. Yet another life!