About this Archive

Administrative/Biographical History

Brian Robinson was born in Northern Ireland and studied law at Sussex University, where he established a gay film society.

He was a founder member of the collectively produced radical queer quarterly Square Peg magazine (1982-1991), which featured art, style, and politics.

He joined the British Film Institute as a press officer in 1987, going on to a career as programmer of BFI Southbank and, since 2000, of BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival.

He has written on queer cinema for several magazines and journals including Sight and Sound and The Guardian.

A cover for Square Peg magazine, that has a drawing of a mystical creature on the cover, shown in green. They are holding a star and have wings. Behind them are waves, and on one side is the sun and the other the moon. "Square" is at the top of the illustration and "Peg" is at the bottom. — Credit: Square Peg Archive

Scope and Content

Papers, t-shirts, placards, banners, and other ephemera for Square Peg magazine, a radical queer cultural quarterly published 1982-1991. Includes cover mock-ups, artwork, advertising copy, meeting minutes, draft articles. Also the personal papers of founding editor Brian Robinson, including those regarding his work at the British Film Institute and its Flare [LGBT+] Film Festival, and the papers and publications of groups and causes he supported, [1983-1990]