Denis MacEoin first graduated with a B.A. and an M.A. in English Language and Literature from Trinity College, Dublin, followed by a second 4-year M.A. in Persian, Arabic, and Islamic Studies from Edinburgh and a PhD in Persian/Islamic Studies from Cambridge (King's College).
He lectured in Arabic and Islamic Studies at Newcastle University, and written several academic books and numerous articles, as well as many pieces of journalism. He wrote reports on hate literature, Shari'a Law, and Islamic schools.
He worked as a writing tutor as the Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Newcastle University, where he also taught a short course in creative writing ('Writing in Genre'). He was for some years the editor of a US-based journal, The Middle East Quarterly. In 1992, HarperCollins published a volume of his journalism under the title New Jerusalems: Islam, Religious Fundamentalism, and the Rushdie Affair.
