Irish author Gabriel Duffy is hoping support from best-selling writer Colin Wilson will help make his autobiography a resounding success.

Mr Duffy, 60, who lives in Brighton, emigrated to England in 1962.

His book Sham To Rock is mostly a memoir of growing up in post-war Ireland with a chapter on London life in the Sixties.

He has also completed the first draft of a book on how to try to cope with the stresses and strains of modern life.

He will be giving a short talk on self-development and stress management at the Sallis Benney Centre in Grand Parade, Brighton, tomorrow at 12.30pm.

Colin Wilson, who wrote The Outsider and also penned the introduction to Sham To Rock, will also be attending the talk.

Mr Duffy worked as an accountant and with an employment agency before starting his own business, which collapsed in 1991.

He said: "I was devoting time to writing which, given a failure to attain publication, might have been better spent on business.

"In the event, with a wife and two baby daughters to support, we lost our home and ended up in a rented house on state benefits.

"I plunged into writing, completing book after book without making the vital breakthrough.

"After six years of this, with my wife's love and patience stretched to the limit, I simply cracked.

"A long period of depression led to separation and divorce.

"It is not a very edifying recent history I concede. I'm not proud of it.

"The only mitigating factor here is my obstinate refusal to give up.

"I have two wonderful daughters now aged 13 and 14 blessed with a truly exceptional mother. Sham is dedicated to them."

Sham To Rock is published by Aengus Books priced £12.99.