Carrie E. Foote, Ph.D, an Associate Professor in Sociology at Indiana University-Purdue University, compiled information on as many HIV/AIDS-related memoirs as she could find and it is fascinating. Since the late 1980s, with Paul Monette’s Borrowed Time, Michael Callen’s Surviving AIDS, and others, I’ve enjoyed, learned from and been inspired by reading first-hand experiences about the lives we’ve lived in struggle and survival.
Click here to see a checkerboard she created to show the covers of more than 100 HIV memoirs; link on any of them to get more information.
For an author of a forthcoming memoir, like me, Dr. Foote’s comprehensive compilation is also a bit daunting. Mine is titled Body Counts: A Memoir of Politics, Sex, AIDS and Survival. The publication date is January 14, but if all goes well there might be some copies in bookstores by the end of the year. And it can already be pre-ordered on Amazon. That’s me and Michael Misove, my partner who died in 1988, on the cover.
When POZ was launched, nearly 20 years ago, there was a distinct memoir aspect to our pages because we provided an opportunity for David Feinberg, Kiki Mason, Shawn Decker, River Houston and so many others to document what they--and we--were going through. (David Eighty-Sixed and Shawn’s My Pet Virus are both, of course, included on Dr. Foote’s roster). POZ.com’s many bloggers provide that today to an even greater degree.
I’ll be traveling a lot in the early part of the year; if you’re interested in having me stop by your city to speak about Body Counts, criminalization and stigma, or the people with HIV empowerment movement, drop me a note at SeanS@poz.com and let me know. Thanks.
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