Joe Graham

Who is Joe Graham?

Anthony Joseph "Joe" Graham, is a Belfast-based Irish writer and historian. He founded Rushlight: The Belfast Magazine in 1972.

Joe Graham was born in Belfast, the eighth of twelve children born to Jim and Kitty Graham. He was raised in what was then the newly built Ballymurphy housing estate in the west of the city. He attended St. John’s Public Elementary School and later St. Thomas's Secondary Intermediate School. One of his teachers was Michael MacLaverty, who himself wrote stories about the political troubles in Belfast. MacLaverty encouraged Graham to express himself in the written word, prompting Graham to write a number of short plays which were staged and performed locally in his own community. Graham's interest in writing and politics deepened.

Graham's father, Jim, would take his son on bike rides and excursions across the length and breadth of County Antrim to ensure that Joe developed a clear knowledge of many of the historical events that occurred there – particularly the 1798 rebellion in which the Graham family played a prominent role: Watty Graham, an ancestor, was executed by the British in 1798.