Celebrated on December 1st, this year's World AIDS Day theme is "Remember and Commit." First celebrated in 1988, this day is a reminder that people all over the world continue to struggle with HIV. This day also recognizes the effort to end the stigma faced by people who have tested HIV-positive. The list below consists of authors who lived with HIV. Some became well-known for their HIV advocacy, while others were writers who happened to also have HIV. Learn more about World AIDS Day by following the #WorldAIDSDay hashtag or by visiting HIV.gov.
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10 Authors to Read in Honor of World AIDS Day
- Marvelyn Brown: Author of The Naked Truth: Young Beautiful and (HIV) Positive, Marvelyn Brown is an athlete-turned-activist. Since she tested positive at age nineteen, she has spoken before audiences around the world, advocating for people with HIV and educating communities about HIV prevention. Learn more about Marvelyn Brown on her website, read her autobiography for free on InternetArchive or buy it on Amazon.
- Arnold Stark Lobel: Perhaps known best for the children's characters, Frog and Toad, Lobel wrote or illustrated almost one hundred books for children. His books have been honored with both Newbery and Caldecott awards. His daughter, Adrianne suggests that Frog and Toad were ahead of their time for suggesting a deep love between male friends. Find his full bibliography on Wikipedia or on the Arnold Lobel Wordpress. Buy his books on Amazon or read some of his books for free through InternetArchive.
- Dambudzo Marechera: Marechera was only thirty-five when he died of AIDS in 1987, but during his short life, he wrote stories that illustrated life Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) under British rule. Several of his works were published posthumously. Read more about Marechera in this article from The Conversation. Read some of his books for free using InternetArchive or find his books on Amazon.
- Paul Monette: Gay poet and activist, Monette began his involvement in the gay rights movement in 1977. His poems illuminated the pain and hardship of the AIDS crisis, particularly its effect on the LGBTQ+ community. He died of complications caused by AIDS in 1995. You can read some of his works for free through OpenLibrary or buy them secondhand from Thriftbooks. Find his bibliography here. Learn more about Monette on the Poetry Foundation website.
- Manuel Ramos Otero: An openly gay Puerto Rican writer, he used literature to explore the gay subculture of New York City. He is best known for his poems and short stories written in Spanish. You can buy some of his work on Amazon or learn more on Goodreads. Learn more about Manuel Ramos Otero on Words Without Borders or read his book, Página en blanco y staccato through OpenLibrary. Use WorldCat to search for more books by this author at a library near you.
- Paul Reed: One of the first popular authors to discuss HIV in his literature, Reed wrote in the genres of fiction, memoir, self-help, and erotica that centered safe sex. He died of AIDS-related complications in 2002. Learn more about Paul Reed here. Read his novel, Facing It, through InternetArchive, and find more of his books on Amazon.
- Edmund White: Present at the Stonewall riots in 1969, White worked as an editor prior to the publishing of his first novel, Forgetting Elena. This piece of satire led to his rise as a writer of gay fiction. He founded the Gay Men's Health Crisis alongside playwright, Larry Kramer, in an effort to serve gay men living with HIV. He spoke openly about life with HIV at a time during which it was deeply taboo to do so. Learn more about this author through Britannica. You can read some of his books for free using OpenLibrary. Find more books by Edmund White and where to buy them on Goodreads.
- Essex Hemphill: As a Black gay poet with HIV, Hemphill regularly used his art to discuss race, homosexuality and HIV. More specifically, he focused on the ways that HIV/AIDS impacted the Black, gay community. You can learn more about Hemphill through Black Past or the Poetry Foundation. You can read a couple of his works for free using OpenLibrary or find some of his books on Amazon.
- Yvonne Vera: Born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, Vera's books frequently highlighted her homeland. Her books have been winning awards since 1993. Learn more about Vera here and here. Buy some of her books secondhand through Thriftbooks or borrow some of her books for free through OpenLibrary.
- LeRoy Whitfield: A Black, bisexual essayist and journalist, Whitfield focused his work on the intersections of the Black community, LGBTQ culture, HIV treatment, and his own experiences living with HIV. Learn more about Whitfield in this article from The Body. You can find some of his articles like "Food Fight" in POZ, a lifestyle magazine written for people living with HIV.
Sources
- Naked Truth by Marvelyn Brown (Internet Archive): https://archive.org/details/nakedtruth00brow
- Naked Truth by Marvelyn Brown (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/Naked-Truth-Young-Beautiful-Surviving-ebook/dp/B001DYVLA0?ref_=ast_author_dp
- Marvelyn Brown (Author Website): http://www.marvelynbrown.com/music.html
- Former Athlete Battling HIV, Sharing Her Story (NPR): https://www.npr.org/2008/08/21/93835656/former-athlete-battling-hiv-sharing-her-story
- List of HIV-Positive People (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_HIV-positive_people
- Arnold Stark Lobel Bibliography (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Lobel_bibliography
- Arnold Lobel Biography (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Lobel
- Are Frog and Toad Gay? Beloved Children's Books Were 'the Beginning of Coming Out' for Author Arnold Lobel, Daughter Says (People Magazine): https://people.com/celebrity/are-frog-and-toad-gay-arnold-lobel-came-out-after-writing-childrens-book/
- Arnold Lobel Biography (Wordpress): https://arnoldlobel.wordpress.com/2016/04/30/biography-of-arnold-lobel-2/
- Arnold Lobel (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/stores/Arnold-Lobel/author/B000APNG74?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true
- Arnold Lobel (Internet Archive): https://archive.org/search?query=arnold+lobel
- Dear Dambudzo Marechera (The Conversation): https://theconversation.com/dear-dambudzo-marechera-the-letters-zimbabweans-wrote-to-a-literary-star-144299
- Dambudzo Marechera (Britannica): https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dambudzo-Marechera
- Dambudzo Marechera (Internet Archive): https://archive.org/search?query=dambudzo+Marechera
- Dambudzo Marechera (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/stores/Dambudzo-Marechera/author/B001KCES5K?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true
- Paul Monette (Open Library): https://openlibrary.org/search?q=paul+monette&mode=everything
- Paul Monette (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Monette
- Paul Monette (Thriftbooks): https://www.thriftbooks.com/browse/?b.search=paul%20monette#b.s=mostPopular-desc&b.p=1&b.pp=30&b.oos&b.tile
- Paul Monette (Poetry Foundation): https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/paul-monette
- Manuel Ramos Otero (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/stores/Manuel-Ramos-Otero/author/B001I9W5DM?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true
- Manuel Ramos Otero (Goodreads): https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/406322.Manuel_Ramos_Otero
- Pagina en blanco y staccato by Manuel Ramos Otero (Open Library): https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3760861W/Pa%CC%81gina_en_blanco_y_staccato?edition=key%3A/books/OL1284044M
- Manuel Ramos Otero (Words Without Borders): https://wordswithoutborders.org/contributors/view/manuel-ramos-otero/
- Paul Reed (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Reed_(writer)
- Facing It by Paul Reed (Internet Archive): https://archive.org/details/facingitnovelofa0000reed
- Paul Reed (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/stores/Paul-Reed/author/B000APO18C?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true
- Edmund White (Open Library): https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL32847A/Edmund_White
- Edmund White (Britannica): https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edmund-White
- Books by Edmund White (Goodreads): https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/15975.Edmund_White
- Essex Hemphill (Poetry Foundation): https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/essex-hemphill
- Essex Hemphill (Open Library): https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL828038A/Essex_Hemphill
- Essex Hemphill (Black Past): https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/hemphill-essex-1957-1995/
- Essex Hemphill (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/Books-Essex-Hemphill/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AEssex+Hemphill
- Yvonne Vera (British Council): https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/yvonne-vera
- Yvonne Vera (Guardian): https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/apr/27/guardianobituaries.books
- Yvonne Vera (Thriftbooks): https://www.thriftbooks.com/a/yvonne-vera/261998/
- Yvonne Vera (Open Library): https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL96023A/Yvonne_Vera
- Black Gay HIV Journalist LeRoy Whitfield's Work Finds a 'Home at Last' in New Book (The Body): https://www.thebody.com/article/leroy-whitfield-home-at-last-book
- "Food Fight" by LeRoy Whitfield (POZ): https://www.poz.com/article/Food-Fight-12229-7469
- POZ (Periodical): https://www.poz.com/
- LeRoy Whitfield (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LeRoy_Whitfield
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