Jason O'Toole (journalist)
| Jason O'Toole | |
|---|---|
| Born |
10 December 1973 [Ireland |
Jason O'Toole (born 10 December 1973) is an Irish author and journalist. He wrote a weekly interview called, "The Jason O'Toole Interview", for the Irish Mail on Sunday and the Irish Daily Mail from 2009 to 2014. He is the former Senior Editor of the popular Irish publication, Hot Press magazine. He returned to his post of senior editor at Hot Press magazine in September 2016.
Jason O'Toole earned a BA in Humanities and an MA in Political Communication from Dublin City University (DCU).
O'Toole wrote the biography of the former Taoiseach, Brian Cowen: The Path to Power (published by Transworld, a division of Random House, in October 2008). An excerpt from the book appears in the Lord of the Files anthology published in November 2011 by the Institute of Public Administration (IPA).
O'Toole edited an anthology on new Irish fiction, entitled Off The Edge (2006), with an introduction by author Lee Dunne.
His book Crime Ink, a collection of his Hot Press journalism, was released in July 2009. It went straight into the top 10 best-sellers list in Ireland on its release; it includes the first ever interviews with some of Ireland's and UK's most notorious criminals and IRA figures, such as: John Gilligan, Paddy "Dutchy" Holland, Alan Bradley (aka Fat Puss), Paddy McCann (Ireland's longest serving prisoner for double murder), Ian Strachan (the Royal Blackmailer) and IRA bosses John Noonan and Gerry Kelly. The book was selected as part of the Be Inspired: Great Irish Book Week, and a chapter from it was included in the anthology Gems from Irish Publishing.
O'Toole also wrote The Last Days of Katy French (2009, Merlin), which the Irish Independent wrote was “well written and non-judgmental", adding that "maybe the book should be required reading on the Leaving Certificate curriculum". Over 18 months after its release, the book surprisingly reentered the best-sellers charts at number 5 in non-fiction category in January 2011, according to the Nielsen figures published by the Sunday Independent on 22 January 2011.
O'Toole co-wrote The End of The Party with Bruce Arnold, published in November 2011 by Gill and Macmillan. The book was selected as one of the top ten Irish books of the year by Joe Duffy's RTÉ show Liveline The show described the book as "gripping"; while the Irish Independent described the book as the "angriest yet" on the meltdown of the Irish economy. Writing in the Sunday Independent, political writer John Drennan stated: "...this reads like a fast-paced thriller crossed with scenes of farce that would be more appropriate to Halls Pictorial Weekly. End of the Party lifts the lid off the crypt of internal politicking and political ambition that buried Fianna Fail and the country. In particular, for the first time, it fully unveils the alcohol-induced inertia that hollowed out a once uniquely successful party."
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