MARTIN BOYCE
Barbadian Writer

MY STORY
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, I grew up in Barbados and traveled extensively as an
English teacher, having lived in Japan, Spain, Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica.
My mostly LGBTQ+ themed writing started as a form of self-therapy in 2005, and represents a potential revolution in representation as I may be the first resident Barbadian man to write openly about his experience as a member of
the LGBTQ+ community on the island, where Chapter 154, Section 9 of the Sexual Offences Act
criminalises buggery.
My short stories have won several literary awards, including the Carolle Bourne Award for Literary Innovation.
I've been published in Tell Me Lies (Foundation Publishing, 2005); Arts Etc. NIFCA Winning Words anthologies 2011/2012, 2015/2016, 2017/2018, 2019/2020; and Stellium Magazine, and am the author of the short story collections Centipede and My Sister's Voice.
I hope to promote empathy through my stories, as one aim of my writing is to foster compassion
by putting the reader in the mind-space of characters who may be different from themselves.
Currently residing in Barbados, I often ponder the Anthropocene and Sixth Extinction
when I am not attempting to stay grounded by writing, meditating, growing food,
and being the change I want to see in the world (cliché but true).
