Born in Kent, England in 1973, Barry grew up in Kingston upon Hull, England and attended the University of Lincoln and the University of Huddersfield. He first started writing in 1994 and had his first poem published in 1997 in the anthology Poetic Words from the East. He appeared in successive poetry anthologies between 1997 and 1999 – including, Perceptions (1997), Light Of The World (1997), Changing Times (1997), Dimensions of Thought (1998) My Own Place (1998), Dilemmas Of Life (1998), Faith From Afar (1998), Echoes of Life (1998), Passage Through Time (1999), Messages & Dreams (1999), Passions of the Unspoken Word (1999) and Faithful Friends (1999).

Dismissive Disguise is his first published book, it spans fourteen years of selected compositions, bound in one collection. The book features a cover designed by the author - taken from two poems entitled "Man & Woman"

Dismissive Disguise is a collection of cynical and uncompromising poetry that grabs you by the hand like your first lover and pulls you through a modern relationship from hopeful inception to disposable conclusion. The book shows splintered contemporary views of romance, linking the futile and faithless with the desire bound and ring woven.