Born in England, Stephen Gillen spent his first nine years in Belfast in the height of 'The Troubles'. Aft er coming back to England and
then London he progressed through an unsettled childhood and care system until going to prison for the first time at fourteen. He
then progressed to serious crime and for the next twenty years was involved in organized crime ending up with a seventeen-year
sentence as a Category A prisoner in the UK's most Secure prisons and Units. After having overcome many challenges in
his life, including addiction, Stephen then transformed his life becoming an Award-Winning International Public Speaker, a
successful Entrepreneur in many industries, Humanitarian and in 2020 was nominated by the Universal Peace Federation for the
'Sunhak' International Peace Prize for his work. Stephen today is very focused on helping people to build new innovative businesses
empowering society, his humanitarian and Peace work, and his goal of improving hundreds of millions of lives worldwide.
In his globally awaited book, 'The Monkey Puzzle Tree', based on the true story of his life and inspired by true events, Stephen has
written a literary masterpiece that not only takes the reader through early civil unrest in Northern Ireland, London, and Organised
Crime and life in Britain's most secure prisons as a High-Security Prisoner, but a unique and inspiring story of transformation, his
redemption and how he forged a new life of success in the highest business, media and political circles in the world.