C. S. Burrough
C. S. Burrough | |
|---|---|
 C. S. Burrough circa 2014 | |
| Born | Colin Stephen Burrough 11 August 1959 Blackpool, Lancashire, UK |
| Pen name | C. S. Burrough, Colin Burrough |
| Occupation | Author, Novelist, Short story writer, Columnist |
| Language | Australian English, British English, |
| Nationality | British, Australian |
| Period | 1980s-present |
| Genre | Gay literature, Historical fiction, Non-fiction, Memoir |
| Subject | Literature |
| Literary movement | Modernism, Postmodernism |
Download books of C. S. Burrough or buy them on amazon
Colin Stephen Burrough (born 11 August 1959) is a British-born Australian author.[1][2]
Early life[edit]
His debut memoir Keeping the Family Name (1995) details an idyllic Blackpool infancy, regional showbusiness child stardom and juvenile lead roles in repertory theatre, cut short at age eleven with his parents' divorce, then ending by 1974 when he came out.[1] The book recalls life as an underage gay adolescent when the UK's unequal gay age of consent was 21, touching on the support he received from the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) after his first long-term relationship was quashed by archaic UK legal powers.
He was consequently removed from the custody of his understanding mother and placed in the care of his loving but aged paternal grandparents and his father, described as a kindly but remote figure who soon remarried and established a new family.[1]
With his full-time Performing Arts education concluding in 1975, Burrough recounts independently relocating to London as a teenager and establishing a West End theatre wardrobe career, leading to national and international tours, a "seesaw bohemian life" of intermittent celebrity-by-association, elitist decadence peaks when employed, and hardship troughs between contracts.
The memoir details the unexplained 1980 tube-station killing of his second long-term partner, with Burrough overseas on a show tour, and the subsequent police disinterest on his return, defining an era unrecognizing of same sex domestic partnerships. The following year Burrough's remarried mother and closest ally died suddenly aged 52 amidst a domestic violence scenario in his hometown, with Burrough absent in faraway London's Theatreland.
Leaving Britain permanently to begin afresh, Burrough resettled in early 1980s Sydney, Australia (where homosexuality was not yet decriminalized), initially continuing his theatre work while experimenting with creative writing based on his life experiences.[3][1]
Writing career[edit]
Burrough's early published work quickly gained him recognition as an LGBT writer, with inclusion in Allen & Unwin's A Guide to Gay and Lesbian Writing in Australia (1996), written by Micheal Hurley.[4]
His first published fiction appeared when he was aged 30, with theatrical lesbian love story Box and Cotton, in Australian Short Stories International Issue (1989),[5] edited by Bruce Pascoe.
His story Just up the Road, about historic gay venue the Bottoms Up Bar in Sydney's Kings Cross, appeared in the OutRage 1995 Gay & Lesbian Short Story Anthology.[6]
Burrough's memoir Keeping the Family Name was well reviewed in gay newspaper the Sydney Star Observer[7] and national gay publication OutRage Magazine,[8][9] reaching number three on the Star Observer's bestseller list in August 1995.
From 1996-98, Burrough wrote his own fortnightly column Keeping up Appearances, for Sydney gay newspaper Capital Q Weekly.[10][11] His novel Not Grunting, Squealing (2000), based on gay community life in Potts Point, was serialized weekly over six months in Sydney gay newspaper SX News.[10]
His body of work later developed and expanded beyond gay literature and into historical fiction.[12][13][2] His evocative short story Parlour (2009) details life as the early 1960s infant of an unconventional mother.[14] His literary saga Or Forever Be Damned (2014)[15] spans eight decades, following the lives and families of two women who escape the slums of northern England's Cottonopolis in the Great Slump.[12] The novel was reviewed favorably by the Sydney Morning Herald[16] and the Historical Novel Society[13] and was distributed in Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA.[2]
He is a Featured Contributor in the Soul Vomit: Domestic Violence Aftermath (2014) anthology, published by Broken Publications USA and promoting awareness of abusive family dynamics.[17]
He is a contributing author in the Showcase: Spark (2024) anthology, by Tale Publications.[18]
With his most used fiction nom de plume being C. S. Burrough, he was published as Colin Burrough in earlier non-fiction columns and articles.[10]
Works[edit]
- Box and Cotton (1989) short story - Australian Short Stories International Issue, Pascoe Publishers, Australia.[5][not in citation given]
- Just up the Road (1994) short story - OutRage 1995 Gay & Lesbian Short Story Anthology, Designer Publications, Victoria.[6][not in citation given]
- Keeping the Family Name (1995) memoir - P.L.W.H.A. New South Wales.[1]
- Keeping up Appearances (1996-98) fortnightly column - Capital Q Weekly, Sydney.[10][11]
- Not Grunting, Squealing (2000) serialized novel - SX News, Sydney.[10]
- Parlour (2009) short story - I Am a Camera anthology, Gay-Ebooks, Australia.[14]
- From a Diary (2015) short story - Soul Vomit: Domestic Violence Aftermath, Broken Publications, USA.[19]
- Little Spark of Oz/Prelude to a Voyage (2024) - Showcase: Spark (2024) anthology, Tale Publishing, Melbourne, Australia.[18]
Personal life[edit]
In an era predating life-saving antiretroviral treatments, Burrough was one of the earliest Australian HIV Positive authors to publicly disclose his serostatus, in his memoir Keeping the Family Name, published by the former People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) NSW.[1]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Burrough, C. S. (1995). Keeping the Family Name. Sydney: P.L.W.H.A. New South Wales. ISBN 978-0-646-23927-9. OCLC 1057960173. Search this book on
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Press, Silky Oak. "C.S. Burrough | Silky Oak Press". Retrieved 2021-08-22.
- ↑ "C.S. Burrough". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2021-08-22.
- ↑ Hurley, Michael (1996). A Guide to Gay and Lesbian Writing in Australia. Allen & Unwin. pp. 130–130. ISBN 978-1-86373-951-1. Search this book on
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Australian Short Stories no. 27. Victoria: Pascoe. 1989. pp. 38–43. OCLC 809071338. Search this book on
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Carr, Adam (1994). OutRage 1995: Gay & Lesbian Short Story Anthology. Fitzroy, Vic.: Designer Publications. pp. 47–53). ISBN 978-0-646-21777-2. OCLC 973621026. Search this book on
- ↑ "Sydney Star Observer - Top Five Bestsellers, Gay Men's Fiction". Trove. 1995-08-24. p. 40. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "OutRage: A Magazine for Lesbians and Gay Men". OutRage: A Magazine for Lesbians and Gay Men. 1983. ISSN 0811-2169. OCLC 220406720.
- ↑ "Trove - OutRage: Australia's Gay News Magazine". trove.nla.gov.au (issue no 147 ed.). August 1995. pp. 76 New Gay Fiction Round-up. Retrieved 2021-08-22. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 "C. S. Burrough at AustLit". www.austlit.edu.au. Retrieved 2021-08-22. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Capital Q Columns-Keeping up Appearances". 1997-01-20. Archived from the original on 1997-01-20. Retrieved 2021-08-24.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Burrough, C. S. (2014). Or Forever Be Damned. Sydney: Silky Oak Press. ISBN 978-1-5008-6725-6. OCLC 896890074.CS1 maint: Date and year (link) Search this book on
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Burrough, C S. "Or Forever Be Damned". Historical Novel Society. Retrieved 2021-08-24. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 14.0 14.1 MacNeill, Ian; Rehn, Ash; Bartlett, John; May, James; Burrough, Colin; Boh, Shannon; Conners, Jarred; Cross, Peter; Summers, Wayne (2009). I Am A Camera (PDF). Australia: www.gay e-books.com.au. OCLC 434841502. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-09-14. Search this book on
- ↑ Burrough, C. S. (2014-10-02). Or Forever Be Damned. Silky Oak Press. ISBN 978-1-5008-6725-6. Search this book on
- ↑ Goldsworthy, Kerryn (2015-02-13). "Fiction: short reviews". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
- ↑ Huffman, A. J. (2014-10-15). Soul Vomit: Domestic Violence Aftermath. Broken Publications. ISBN 978-0-9859028-6-5. Search this book on
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0D9F31C8F
- ↑ "Soul Vomit". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2021-08-22.
External links[edit]
This article "C. S. Burrough" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:C. S. Burrough. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
- 21st-century Australian writers
- LGBT writers from Australia
- English emigrants to Australia
- 1959 births
- 20th-century Australian novelists
- 20th-century Australian short story writers
- 21st-century Australian short story writers
- 20th-century Australian male writers
- 21st-century Australian male writers
- Gay writers
- LGBT novelists
- Australian male novelists
- Australian columnists
- Australian memoirists
- Queer writers
- Queer men
- Australian historical fiction writers
- People with HIV/AIDS
- People from Blackpool
- Writers from Lancashire
- LGBT writers from England
- Australian male short story writers
- LGBT memoirists
- English writers
- English novelists
- English memoirists
- English short story writers
- 21st-century Australian novelists
- 20th-century Australian writers
- Australian historical novelists
- Male non-fiction writers
- English male short story writers
- English historical novelists
- Australian short story writers
- 21st-century English novelists
- 20th-century English novelists
- English male novelists
- English non-fiction writers
