After his degree, he taught English in Italy and then in 1986 moved to the USA where he did a bewildering array of jobs before embarking on a writing programme at Columbia University.
His shorter prose has appeared in Granta, The New Yorker, The Big Issue and in the anthologies Wales, Half Welsh (Bloomsbury, 2004), London Noir (Serpent’s Tail, 2006) and Sea Stories (National Maritime Museum, 2007).
Barry worked with Uruguayan photographer, Diego Vidart [1], to produce 'The Falkland Diaries [2]’, an exhibition at the Wales Millennium Centre in 2007.
(Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council, 2008) Nonfiction 3:AM Magazine The Circular Church (or books, guns and the report on the blind) Words by Des Barry; Photography by Diego Vidart http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/the-circular-church-or-books-guns-and-the-report-on-the-blind/ The Sauna King.
Words by Des Barry; Photography by Kristian Helgesen http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/the-sauna-king/ William Burroughs and the Dreamscapes of the Dalai Lama http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/william-burroughs-and-the-dreamscapes-of-the-dalai-lama/ Academi (Welsh literature promotion)[3] Wales Arts International [4] British Council [5] Smith, Dai, Top 10 Welsh Alternatives to Dylan Thomas, The Guardian, 12/2/06 [6]