My Mission
Since being breached out into the world, I have been the other. And the other has always been feared. Since that breach, I’ve been fighting for acceptance, whether it’s as a proud gay man or an individual living with HIV.
My goal in life is to make ‘the other’ an extinct species. We are all an other, but that’s an inclusive term whereas the other implies exclusion from the whole. Language is important and the value of this idea is important, two ideas that perfectly summarise the union of my writing and my activism.
I’ve always written about the whole, the interconnectedness, the gestalt; the very thing I believe in. We are individuals within a macro-organism.
If I am as simple and authentic as I can be, I will bring more love into the world through my own honest growth. It’s a purpose of positivity that I have, pun intended, but my purpose is also quite mischievous.
I don’t believe in walking on eggshells. I will call something out if it needs to be. I am a purveyor in forgiveness but an activist will never forget. That’s not in my remit.
I’ve been known to say that I should come with a warning because my mission will make people feel uncomfortable, but sometimes that’s necessary. To quote the historian Fernández-Armesto: “We need to feel badly about ourselves if we are going to make ourselves better.” The dark should not be ignored but learnt from.
I associate myself with gold. Molten metal burns, but the I am a Burns. This is my mischief, just as the modus operandi of my writing is mischievous.
My Work
Where do you want to go?
Writer
A portfolio of my exploration of life through the written word, encompassing prose (short stories), plays (full-length and short) and scripts (my POC adaptation of ‘Dr Faustus’).
Activist
Discover the work I do as an HIV Awareness activist, inspired by my own AIDS diagnosis in 2007. Includes the ‘We Are Still Here’ project.
I am not a template
An introduction to my N/F novel which follows my journey as a man living with HIV and what that means in modern times. A story of survival but, more importantly, hope.
The Perpendicular Tree
Welcome to the world of my children’s book! Imagine the story of The Ugly Duckling as told through the experiences of a tree. As well as not knowing his place in the world, that very world of his is also falling apart.