Gordon Burn was an English writer born in Newcastle upon Tyne and the author of four novels and several works of non-fiction. Burn's novels deal with issues of modern fame and faded celebrity as lived through the media spotlight. His novel Alma Cogan, which imagined the future life of the British singer Alma Cogan had she not died in 1966, won the Whitbread Award for Best First Novel. His other novels Fullalove and The North of England Home Service appeared in 1995 and 2003 respectively. His non-fiction deals primarily with sport and true crime. His first book Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son was a study of Peter Sutcliffe, 'the Yorkshire Ripper' and his 1998 book Happy Like Murderers: The Story of Fred and Rosemary West, dealt in similar detail with one of Britain's most notorious serial killers. Burn's interest in such infamous villains extended to his fiction, with Myra Hindley, one of the 'Moors murderers', featuring prominently in the novel Alma Cogan. [More at Wikipedia]

January 16th, 1948 in Newcastle upon Tyne  /  Died:   Jul 17th, 2009