Tom Mathews is, without doubt, Ireland's leading cartoonist. A cult figure of growing stature, his work is published weekly in the Irish Times , The Sunday Independent and HotPress . Now, for the first time, New Island presents this long-awaited collection: a career's worth of cartoons from a master of the genre. Tom Mathews was born in Dublin in 1952. He studied Fine Art at NCAD, since leaving which in 1974 he has worked as freelance writer and cartoonist. His work appears weekly in The Irish Times and the Sunday Independent as well as in Cara Magazine , HotPress and sundry others. He has had sixteen one-man shows to date including three exhibitions of paintings. His paintings have also featured in the Living Art and RHA. His cartoons are in many private and public, national and international collections. He has illustrated a dozen books as well as designing magazine covers, record sleeves, posters, T-shirts, hoardings and postcards. His hobbies are drinking stout, writing verse and talking too much about James Joyce.