The Magic of Terry Pratchett – Mark Burrows

I had the great pleasure of attending a talk by Mark Burrows about the late Sir Terry Pratchett this week.

I took my dad along as he was the person who first helped me escape into the Discworld; handing me a copy of Mort when I was 12 years old. He has since gifted me his entire collection of Pratchett books that he had collected over the years as they were released in paperback. (Something I will always treasure.)

It was an emotional journey to say the least; from a sense of camaraderie and laughter at Sir Terry’s ‘kooky’ nature, through rage at the injustice of how he was treated in school; to the tough and tear-jerking early end to his life. Mark Burrows did an exceptional job of threading heartfelt comedy throughout the entire talk.

My dad, having lost his father to a degenerative illness, was quite moved by the stories about Sir Pratchett’s life, and we left the first half with tears glistening in our eyes. The second half was light-hearted and fun – a peaceful end to the emotional rollercoaster of the first part.

There were three lessons I took away from the evening that I’d like to share with you.

1. You can write your own stories.

Pratchett didn’t just create a new world that mirrors our own; he lived in a world of his making. The tales and anecdotes he gave to us throughout his life were often embellished and all the better for it – he wrote his own stories. The stories that made him who he was were told in every outfit choice, every guest appearance… If I took any lesson from that it would be to do the same, and never be afraid to show my true self.

2. Someone never truly dies while their name is still spoken

Pratchett and his ideas are covered thoroughly in Mark’s book, lovingly curated and explored, so I won’t try to paraphrase them here. But in all the ways that Pratchett has affected my life, the ways he sculpted my psyche, the way he challenged my philosophies through his works – he lives on through myself and his other avid readers.

3. Ignore the critics – they don’t know what they’re talking about.

Pratchett was scorned by critics for years, pushed down by his school years and failed by the education system and still, there he was. Sir Terry Pratchett, OBE. If he listened to any critics it would only have fuelled him. Anger is energy. As a queer writer I often am my own biggest critic, not putting myself out there for fear of being criticised; I am going to try to take a leaf out of his book.

I bought (well technically my dad gifted to me) The Magic of Terry Pratchett biography at the end of the evening, and I got it signed by Burrows and commended him for his bisexual visibility. During the evening, Burrows made comment that he was clearly bisexual, we do in fact exist and he always gets called a ‘spicy straight’. Allegedly, Graham Linehan decided to call him a ‘Queer Overlord’, meant as an insult but Burrows said he would happily own the title. We write our own stories.

Mark Burrows performance ‘The Magic of Terry Pratchett’ is on tour until Spring 2025 and his unofficial biography of the same name is available to purchase now.