Kelleher was born in London[1] and moved to Africa with his parents, at the age of fifteen.
He spent the next twenty years travelling and studying in Africa, before moving to New Zealand.
While in New Zealand, he began writing part-time, prompted by homesickness for Africa.
He moved to Australia in 1976,[2] with his South African wife, Alison, and was associate professor at the University of New England, in Armidale, New South Wales, before moving to Sydney to write full-time.
After receiving a grant from the Australia Council Literature Board, Kelleher spent six months of 1996 at the Kessing Writers' Studio in Paris.