Born in Derry, Northern Ireland, in 1971, Fergal is the very proud father of three children and one grandson - Michaela, Laya and Josh, and Gerry. He has been involved in Youth Work full-time since leaving school in May 1987. He is a quadruple graduate and has worked for a vast array of organisations across the statutory, voluntary and community sectors. He has worked in a range of areas including Youth Information, Education Welfare, Volunteering, Peace & Reconciliation, Conflict Management & Resolution, Community Relations, Mentoring, Street Work, Research, Participation, Urban and Rural Work, and Social Justice. He has also worked as a freelance trainer at local, regional, national and international level.

A life-long Liverpool supporter his passions also include humour, music and reading. His claims to fame include undertaking two-fundraising walks the length of Ireland in 1988 and 2017, making legal history in Northern Ireland in 2001 by single-handedly changing Employment Law at an Industrial Tribunal, and for good or bad looking like uncannily like comedian Harry Hill!

This is Fergal's third book, The Things People Say, Political Quotations from the Northern Ireland Peace Process, published in 2008 is available from Trafford, ISBN 1-4251-6179-0. His second book, The Yet Unknown Little Brown Book, A Collection of Poems was published in 2011 and is available from Xlibris, ISBN 978-1-46530-334-9.

You can find out more info on-line at: https: //thekingisalive.wixsite.com/fergalbarr