Brian Burland (23 April 1931 – 11 February 2010) was a Bermudian writer, who was the author of nine acclaimed novels[1] that typically dealt with colonialism, family strife and race.
[2] His was a privileged family background, but from an early age Brian was very conscious of Bermuda's racial inequalities and empathised with black Bermudians: "An important figure in his early life was Sarah Hinson, his black Bermudian nanny who... appears in his novel The Flight of the Cavalier as a heroic figure.
Burland's other published novels are Surprise (1975), Stephen Decatur, the Devil and the Endymion (1975), Flight of the Cavalier (1980) and Love is a Durable Fire (1985).
At least something in my work has been praised by such readers as Conrad Aiken, Anthony Burgess, David Rabe, Noel Coward, Alan Harrington, Janice Elliott, Mark Van Doren, V. S. Pritchett and Alec Guinness.
Yet in my whole career I have never received a review that totally dismissed a novel – my characters, my plot, my scene-setting – until Thomas Cook's assessment of 'Love Is a Durable Fire' (In Short, June 22)....
My novels have been reviewed in The Times by Martin Levin and Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, critics of large literary acumen who approached my books as works of serious fiction.
"[11] Burland suffered from Huntington's disease in his later life and spent his last years at Westmeath Nursing Home and finally at Sylvia Richardson Care Facility.
Dedicated to preserving and promoting his works and as well as to encouraging aspiring Bermudian writers,[4][15][16] the Centre features a specially commissioned mural[17] by leading Bermudian artist Graham Foster[18] that depicts imagery from four Burland novels: The Sailor and the Fox, Flight of the Cavalier, A Fall From Aloft, and Stephen Decatur, the Devil and the Endymion.