Paul Burston was born in York, raised in South Wales and now divides his time between London and Hastings.
He studied English and Drama at St Mary's College, Strawberry Hill and Modern Drama at London Metropolitan University.
At the age of 23 he became an AIDS activist with ACT UP London and later worked for the gay police monitoring group GALOP before becoming a journalist.
For 20 years he edited the LGBTQ+ section at Time Out London, documenting the changing cultural and political landscape.
A co-founder of Attitude magazine, he has written for many other publications including the Guardian and the Times. He also wrote and presented documentaries for Channel 4.
His most recent novel is 'The Closer I Get', which was inspired by his own experience of having a stalker. His other novels include 'Shameless' (shortlisted for the State of Britain Award 2001), 'Lovers and Losers' (shortlisted for the Stonewall Award 2007), 'The Gay Divorcee' (2009, optioned for television) and 'The Black Path' (2016).
He has also published several non-fiction titles, including 'A Queer Romance' (1995) and 'Queens Country' (1998).
His bestselling memoir 'We Can Be Heroes - A Survivor's Story' was published by Little A on June 1, 2023 and described by Bernardine Evaristo as "a compelling and hugely enjoyable memoir about a fearless life lived to the full". Russell T Davies said it was "brutally honest... wonderful". The Evening Standard called it "probably the gay book of the year."
He is the founder of Polari literary salon and The Polari Book Prize for LGBTQ+ writing.
