Upon the release of her new book Without Borders- Syria- author Susanne Burge tells us a little bit about herself.
Susanne Burge
I grew up with curly hair, (and have a particular aversion to bullies), no television or car, two siblings and various pets. As a young child during WWII, my mother, a classical pianist, watched her home burn to the ground in the industrial heartland of Germany, her grandfather taken away for questioning, yet again, and shared the fear of her mother, that next time the knock on the door would be for them all. Her father, a butcher by trade, was conscripted to the Russian Front. My father, a working class English boy, won a Physics scholarship to Cambridge and did top secret work for the MOD.
My favourite subjects were art, music, literature and languages but my parents encouraged me into medicine. I have enjoyed the thrill of healing for almost thirty years, working in the NHS.
With some less conventional experience in the use of Neuro-hypnotic re-programming and NLP, I’m fascinated by who we are, why we do the things we do and the potential of the human mind.
1987 saw me working in an Arab hospital in Israel at the start of the first Intifada and this is where my interest in Middle Eastern politics began. Ten years later, I was living out of a Kayak with my husband-to-be, in the wilderness of Alaska.
My greatest achievement is our children and one of my greatest joys, making music with others. I play cello in various ensembles.
I believe in the sanctity of life and the power of music; in singing loudly in the car and stopping to hear the birds sing; in carefree walks along the beach, smiles, compassion and laughter; being out in all weathers and looking after the bees; that I live in a global community and that we were all created equal. I know what it means to be part of everything, to have everything in me and that combating violence with violence does not work.
I believe that we need to nurture our planet back to health; that no woman should have more kids than she wants; that our children are our hope for the future and that “Love Conquers All” (Virgil). And I believe that, “Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, but learning to dance in the rain.” (Dick Moore).
I love the company of friends, the solitude of an early dog-walk in the wildest of places and the hypnotic rhythm of swimming front-crawl.
I write as a catharsis and to make a noise for justice and humanity, though our fourteen-year-old has made me promise that my next book will be for children, and happy.
Without Borders is a love story about a young doctor who journeys into war-torn Syria to rescue two small boys. It is of potential interest to all wanting to understand the current conflict in the Middle East. All proceeds will go to those who inspired it: the children of Syria.
