Jonathan Buckley was born in Birmingham, grew up in Dudley, and studied English Literature at Sussex University, where he stayed on to take an MA. From there he moved to King’s College, London, where he researched the work of the Scottish poet/artist Ian Hamilton Finlay. After working as a university tutor, stage hand, maker of theatrical sets and props, bookshop manager, decorator and builder, he was commissioned in 1987 to write the Rough Guide to Venice & the Veneto.
He went on to become an editorial director at Rough Guides, and to write further guidebooks on Tuscany & Umbria and Florence, as well as contributing to the Rough Guide to Classical Music and Rough Guide to Opera.
Books in order of publication:
Novels
The Biography of Thomas Lang. HarperCollins Publishers. – 1998
Xerxes. HarperCollins Publishers. – 2000
Ghost Macindoe. HarperCollins Publishers. – 2001
Invisible. HarperCollins Publishers. – 2004
So He Takes the Dog. HarperCollins Publishers. -2006
Contact. Sort of Books. – 2010
Telescope. Sort of Books – 2011
Nostalgia. Sort of Books. – 2013
The River is the River. Sort of Books. – 2015
The Great Concert of the Night. Sort of Books. – 2018
Live; live; live. Sort of Books. – 2020
Tell. Fitzcarraldo Editions. 2024
Guidebooks
The Rough Guide to Venice & the Veneto. APA Publications. – 2001
Pocket Rough Guide Florence. APA Publications. – 2006
Pocket Rough Guide Venice. APA Publications. – 2011
The Rough Guide to Tuscany & Umbria – 2012
Oak Lawn Library Friends 