Gordon Burn (16 January 1948 – 17 July 2009) was an English

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

born in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

and the author of four novels and several works of non-fiction.

Career

Burn's novels explore the issues of modern fame and faded celebrity as lived through the media spotlight. His novel ''

Alma Cogan Alma Angela Cohen Cogan (19 May 1932 – 26 October 1966) was an English singer of traditional pop in the 1950s and early 1960s. Dubbed the "Girl with the Giggle in Her Voice", she was the highest paid British female entertainer of her era. Ch ...

'' (1991), which imagined the future life of the British singer

had she not died in 1966, won the Whitbread Award for First Novel. His other novels, ''Fullalove'' and ''The North of England Home Service,'' were published in 1995 and 2003, respectively. His non-fiction works deal primarily with sport and true crime. Burn's first book, ''Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son,'' was a study of

Peter Sutcliffe Peter William Sutcliffe (2 June 1946 – 13 November 2020), also known as Peter Coonan, was an English serial killer who was convicted of murdering thirteen women and attempting to murder seven others between 1975 and 1980. He was du ...

, 'the Yorkshire Ripper", and his 1998 book, ''Happy Like Murderers: The Story of

Fred Fred or FRED may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Fred ...

and

Rosemary West Rosemary Pauline West (née Letts; born 29 November 1953) is an English serial killer who collaborated with her husband, Fred West, in the torture and murder of ten young women between 1973 and 1987;

'', dealt in similar detail with two of Britain's most notorious serial killers. Burn's interest in such infamous villains extended to his fiction, with

Myra Hindley The Moors murders were a series of child killings committed by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley in and around Manchester, England, between July 1963 and October 1965. The victims were five children—Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesl ...

, one of the ' Moors murderers', featuring prominently in the novel ''

''. His sport-based books consisted of ''Pocket Money: Inside the World of

Snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...

'' (1986) and ''Best and Edwards: Football, Fame and Oblivion'' (2006), the latter of which examines the twin stories of

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

footballers

Duncan Edwards Duncan Edwards (1 October 1936 – 21 February 1958) was an English footballer who played as a left-half for Manchester United and the England national team. He was one of the Busby Babes, the young United team formed under manager Matt Busby ...

and

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional association football, footballer who played as a winger (association football), winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United F.C., Manchester Un ...

, and the "trajectory of two careers unmoored in wildly different ways." He also wrote a book in conjunction with British artist

Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist and art collector. He was one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingdom's richest ...

, ''On the Way to Work'', a collection of interviews from various dates between 1992 and 2001. A regular contributor to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', his columns often focused on contemporary art.

''Sex & Violence, Death & Silence''

''Sex & Violence, Death & Silence'' is a book written by Gordon Burn in 2009 and published by

Faber & Faber Faber and Faber Limited, commonly known as Faber & Faber or simply Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, Margaret S ...

. It contains selections of writing by Burn about art and artists (as well as art dealers and collectors) spanning almost thirty-five years, including interviews and reviews as well as extracts from his novel ''Alma Cogan''. It opens with a foreword by

with David Peace. Gordon Burn died in the summer of 2009, whilst the book was being prepared for publication. The artists discussed in the book are as follows: British art dealer Nigel Greenwood is also featured.

Nicholas Lezard Nicholas Andrew Selwyn LezardThe Cambridge University List of Members up to 31 December 1991, Cambridge University Press, p. 814 is an English journalist, author and literary critic. Background and education The Lezard family went from London to ...

described the work as being "knowledgeable, thorough and readable".

Death

Gordon Burn died of bowel cancer in 2009, aged 61.

Bibliography

Fiction

*''

'' (1991) *''Fullalove'' (1995) *''The North of England Home Service'' (2003) *''Born Yesterday: The News as a Novel'' (2008)

Non-fiction

*''Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son: The Story of Peter Sutcliffe'' (1984) *''Pocket Money: Inside The World of Snooker'' (1986) *''Happy Like Murderers: The Story of Fred and Rosemary West'' (1998) *''On the Way to Work'' (with

) (2001) *''Best and Edwards: Football, Fame and Oblivion'' (2006) *''Sex & Violence, Death & Silence'' (2009)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burn, Gordon 1948 births 2009 deaths English non-fiction crime writers English male journalists The Guardian journalists Writers from Newcastle upon Tyne Deaths from colorectal cancer in England English male novelists 20th-century English novelists 21st-century English novelists 20th-century English male writers 21st-century English male writers