Denis MacEoin


Denis M. MacEoin is a British analyst and writer. Since 2014 has published at the Gatestone Institute, of which he is a Senior Fellow, a number of essays on current events with a Middle Eastern focus. He was a "Senior Editor" from 2009–2010 at Middle East Quarterly, a publication of the American think tank Middle East Forum, where he is also a Fellow. A former lecturer in Islamic studies, his academic specialisations are Shiʻism, Shaykhism, Bábism, and the Baháʼí Faith. MacEoin, who writes a blog entitled A Liberal Defence of Israel says he has "very negative feelings" about Islam.
As a novelist, MacEoin writes under the pen names Daniel Easterman and Jonathan Aycliffe.

Education

MacEoin studied English Language and Literature at the University of Dublin and Persian, Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Edinburgh. He carried out research for his PhD degree at King's College, Cambridge. From 1979–80, he taught English, Islamic Civilization, and Arabic-English translation at Mohammed V University in Fez, Morocco, resigning from the University shortly after commencing employment there. MacEoin claims the resignation was due to disputes over contract changes, working environment and payment for his services as a Lecturer. In 1986, he was made Honorary Fellow in the Centre for Islamic and Middle East Studies at Durham University. He was the Royal Literary Fund Fellow, assisting with academic writing at Newcastle University from 2005 to 2008.
MacEoin is a former Baháʼí and now considers himself a secular humanist.

Publications

Academic

MacEoin has published extensively on Islamic topics, contributing to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, the Oxford Encyclopaedia of Islam in the Modern World, the Encyclopædia Iranica, the Penguin Handbook of Religions, journals, festschrifts, and books, and has himself written a number of academic books.
Since 1986, McEoin has pursued a career as a novelist, having written 26 novels. He uses the pen names Daniel Easterman and Jonathan Aycliffe.

Daniel Easterman