Paul Burston

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Paul Burston
Born
Occupation(s)Writer and journalist
Known forPolari salon, Polari Prize
Website www.paulburston.net OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Paul Burston is a Welsh journalist and author. He worked for the London gay policing group GALOP and was an activist with ACT UP before moving into journalism. He edited, for some years, the LGBT section of Time Out and founded the Polari Prize.

Contents

Biography

Born in York and raised in South Wales, Burston attended Brynteg School and studied English, Drama and Film Studies at university. He worked for the London gay policing group GALOP and was an activist with ACT UP before moving into journalism. [1] [2] He edited, for some years, the gay and lesbian (later LGBT) section of Time Out magazine and was a founding editor of Attitude magazine. [1] He has also written for publications including The Guardian , The Independent , The Times and The Sunday Times . [1]

His first novel Shameless, published in 2001, was praised by The New York Times [3] and shortlisted for the State of Britain Award. [1] His third novel Lovers & Losers, published in 2007, was shortlisted for a Stonewall Award. [1]

In 2007, Burston became the founder and host of award-winning LGBT literary salon Polari, [1] which began in a bar in Soho before moving to the Southbank Centre. He was also the founder, in 2011, of The Polari Book Prize for new and established LGBTQ+ writing, which is now based at the British Library. [4] In 2016, he was featured in the British Council's Five Films 4 Freedom Global List of 33 "inspiring people who use culture to promote freedom and equality and provoke debate, or who are risking their lives to promote the rights of LGBT communities". [5]

Burston's novel The Black Path was published by Accent Press in September 2016 and was long-listed for The Guardian 's "Not The Booker Prize". [1] [6]

By October 2018, five novels and two short story collections by Burston had been published. In that month, The Bookseller reported that his sixth novel The Closer I Get was published by Orenda Books as part of a two-book deal. [7] The Closer I Get, published in July 2019, was partly inspired by the author's experience of online harassment. [8]

In December 2021, The Bookseller announced that his memoir We Can Be Heroes would be published by Amazon imprint Little A in June 2023. [9]

With New Yorker Michael-Anthony Nozzi and 1970s alternative drag performer Lavinia Co-op, Burston was interviewed by Alexis Gregory for his 2018 verbatim theatre work Riot Act. [1] [2] [10]

Views on transgender issues

In 2018, Burston was among the signatories of an open letter to The Times that criticised Stonewall’s approach to transgender issues, arguing it was "undermining women’s sex-based rights and protections" and calling for "respectful debate" on the subject. [11] He was also a signatory to a letter in The Observer opposing "no-platforming" of individuals with feminist views critical of aspects of transgender activism. [12]

Bibliography

Non fiction

Fiction

Edited works

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Paul Burston". D H H Literary Agency. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  2. 1 2 Garside, Emily (12 August 2022). "Theatre Review: Alexis Gregory's Riot Act ★★★★★". The Queer Review. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  3. Schillinger, Liesl (27 June 2004). "'Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy – Review". The New York Times . Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  4. "Official website of award-winning literary salon". Polari. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  5. "fiveFilms4freedom 2016". British Council. 17 March 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  6. Jordison, Sam (2 August 2016). "Not the Booker prize (very) longlist 2016: votes, please!". The Guardian . Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  7. Cowdrey, Katherine (15 October 2018). "Orenda signs psychological thriller from Paul Burston in Frankfurt deal". The Bookseller . Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  8. Burston, Paul (3 July 2019). "Nightmares, flashbacks and constant fear: how a stalker brought me to my wits' end". The Guardian . Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  9. Bayley, Sian (9 December 2021). "Little A acquires 'powerful' memoir from Polari Prize founder Burston". The Bookseller . Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  10. Marshall, Jack (8 July 2022). "Riot Act: Alexis Gregory's hilarious and moving exploration of LGBT history through real-life stories comes to Blackpool". Lancashire Evening Post . Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  11. "Stonewall criticised". The Times. 4 October 2018. p. 28. Archived from the original on 5 July 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  12. "Letters: Censorship". The Observer. 14 February 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2025.