World AIDS Day

December 1, 2014 marks the 26th World AIDS Day. Each year, World AIDS Day serves as a reminder that, although we have come a long way in fighting the AIDS epidemic, there is still plenty of work to be done. The AIDS epidemic changed gay literature, introducing the gay culture to the general population and changing the way it was perceived. The 2014 theme for World AIDS Day is “Getting to Zero”. The World Aids Day video below highlights many of our well-known LGBT authors and their books that focus on the real, devastating effects of AIDS.









Someone Was Here, George Whitmore
Someone Was Here profiles the lives of three men and women grappling with the devastating effects of AIDS between 1985 and 1987. Jim Sharp fights his battle with AIDS and finds support with Edward Dunn, who volunteers with the Gay Men’s Health Crisis organization in New York City. Nellie drives cross-country to bring home her suffering son as he struggles with the vicious disease. George Whitmore also tells the stories of the doctors and nurses tirelessly working to treat AIDS afflicted patients in a South Bronx hospital. Whitmore’s portrait of the AIDS epidemic is raw and real.








Borrowed Time, Paul Monette
The tragic love story of Paul Monette and Roger Horwitz, Borrowed Time, is a candid portrait of love and loss. Monette and Horwitz spent more than a decade together until Horwitz’s death from complications from AIDS in 1986. Paul Monette beautifully traces his relationship with Roger, the long, painful battle with AIDS, and the grief and recovery he experienced following Roger’s death.








In the Shadow of the American Dream, David Wojnarowicz
In the Shadow of the American Dream is the deeply intimate collection of chapters from Wojnarowicz’s personal diaries. His writing spans two decades, through his troubled adolescence to his success as a famed artist and activist. His personal accounts of AIDS in New York City is an honest tribute to the painful realities the gay community faced.

{buybutton id=10727/}

Other Entertainment: Collected Pieces, Ned Rorem
Ned Rorem, one of the greatest composers of art songs, crafts a beautiful and insightful collection of essays, interviews, and commentaries in Other Entertainment. Rorem interviews artists, musicians, and activists, including journalist and AIDS activist Larry Moss in this moving collection of essays.







At Risk, Alice Hoffman
When eleven-year-old Amanda is diagnosed with AIDS, her otherwise typical family is thrown into turmoil. As they struggle with the devastating diagnosis, Amanda’s parents must learn to cope with the grief and uncertainty, her brother vies for attention, and Amanda must let go of her dreams of becoming an Olympic gymnast. At Risk is a moving story of family coping with the realities of love and loss.

{buybutton id=11091/}

Nightswimmer, Joseph Olshan
When Will Kaplan’s lover goes missing after a night swim in the Pacific Ocean, Will spends a decade struggling to understand the mysterious disappearance. In the AIDS-stricken world of New York’s gay culture, Will meets the similarly troubled Sean Paris, and together, they share their doubts and learn to form new relationships in an uncertain world.









In Memory of Angel Clare, Christopher Bram
When filmmaker “Angel Clare” dies of an AIDS-related illness, his friends find themselves caring for Angel’s young lover, Michael. Resistant at first, the group must learn to cope with grief, friendship, and forgiveness.









Afterlife, Paul Monette
Afterlife follows the lives of three men, widowed by the AIDS epidemic, struggling to live and love again. Steven, Sonny, and Dell all lost their lovers to AIDS related illnesses within a week of one another. They are also all HIV positive. Each man searches for a way to move beyond the past and face the future head-on.









The Uncle from Rome, Joseph Caldwell

While grieving after the AIDS related death of his lover, American opera singer, Michael Ruane, is offered the role of “uncle from Rome” in a production of Tosca. As tradition, the presence of the uncle from Rome bestows prestige on the family. Michael is soon thrown into a drama more trying than any role he has played on stage.

 

 

Night Kites, M.E. Kerr
What do you do when your whole world is blown apart? A 17-year old confronts love, betrayal, and his brother's illness in this brave, deeply compassionate novel. Erick is stunned when he finds out Pete has AIDS; he didn't even know his brother was gay. It was Pete who told a five-year-old Erick that night kites don't think about the dark, that they're not afraid to be different. How Erick and his parents deal with Pete's illness are what make this book so unforgettable Fearless and profoundly affecting, it will stay with you long after the last page is turned.