Armistead Maupin is more than just a successful author, he’s an LGBT+ activist who is considered, quite rightly, a genuine legend. Tales of The City and the sequels are probably the most influential series of gay novels ever written. In September Armistead is undertaking his first UK tour. Here’s what you need to know.
Armistead Maupin has been blazing a trail through American popular culture since the 1970s. His novels and the subsequent TV adaptations of Tales of The City have taken his work to a worldwide audience.
Tales of the City was first published as a column in the San Francisco Chronicle in 1974 and was published as a novel in 1978. The novel and its sequels not only became a publishing sensation but their stories of gay people in San Francisco spoke to many LGBT+ people all over the world in a language they could understand, bringing comfort and the knowledge that we weren’t alone. The first novel was made into a successful TV mini series in 1993 starring Laura Linney as Mary Ann Singleton and Olympia Dukakis as Anna Madrigal, followed by the second and third series. This year Netflix produced another series with both Linney and Dukakis reprising their roles.
In many ways Armistead is America’s ultimate LGBT+ storyteller and on this debut speaking tour of the UK he will recount his favourite tales from the past four decades, offering his own engaging observations on society and the world we inhabit. The event will be followed by a book signing.
An Evening With Armistead Maupin starts on 23 September in York, in Brighton on 14 October and in London on 17 October at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Tickets at faneproductions.com/armistead-boyz
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