Armistead Maupin

Armistead Maupin is an iconic author, famed for writing the highly popular novels in the Tales of the City series. Having authored nine books, the series has since been converted into a show for Netflix and seen Armistead win numerous awards commending his fantastic literature. Outside of writing, Armistead has forged a reputation as an LGBT activist, openly gay himself. With such a reputation as an advocate, Armistead is now a popular choice as a speaker for events to encourage inclusion and acceptance of the LGBT community.

Many of his books cover prominent issues, such as Michael Tolliver Lives which documents the story of a man living as HIV positive. Armistead was inspired to write a tale of an ageing gay man, and his work has won countless awards for its inclusive representations. Armistead has been the recipient of the 2001 Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Books Award, the 2006 Best Gay Read Award and the 2012 Lambda Pioneer Award, an award which is given to those who have made a significant impact on LGBT literature.

In the early days of his career, Armistead wrote for The Daily Tar Heel during his studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He later went on to work for WRAL-TV, Charleston Newspaper and the Associated Press. He began writing what would become his famous Tales of the City story in The Pacific Sun newspaper, and then in the San Francisco Chronicle before it was published into the iconic books that the series is today. Since first writing his tales in newspapers, Armistead’s creative story has been turned into a series for Netflix, made into a musical and had eight other volumes in the series.

An iconic figure of literature and a passionate LGBT activist, Armistead is now a popular choice as a speaker for a range of events. Having lived liberated as a gay man, and explored the representation of such people in his work, Armistead Maupin is passionate to encourage acceptance of the LGBT community.