Armistead
Maupin says he knew he was gay since childhood but didn't have sex
until he was 26 and only decided to come out in 1974. The same year, he
began what would become the Tales of the City series as a serial in a
Marin County-based newspaper, the Pacific Sun, moving to the San
Francisco Chronicle after the Sun's San Francisco edition folded.

This
is the eighty-fifth  post in a series highlighting the best gay and
lesbian authors from the 20th century (with a few before and after that
period) who have recorded in fiction, and nonfiction, the history of gay
people telling what life is, and was, during an important time of
history.

Armistead
Jones Maupin, Jr.[(born May 13, 1944) is an American writer best known
for his Tales of the City series of novels based in San Francisco.

Maupin
worked at WRAL-TV (Channel 5) in Raleigh, a station then managed by
future U.S. Senator Jesse Helms, who also delivered the station's
well-known editorial segments throughout his management of the station
in the 1960s. Helms nominated Maupin for a patriotic award, which he
won. Maupin says he was a typical conservative and even a segregationist
at this time and admired Helms, a family friend, as a sort of "hero
figure." He later changed his opinions dramatically — "I've changed and
he hasn't" — and condemned Helms at a gay pride parade on the steps of
the North Carolina State Capitol.Maupin is a veteran of the United
States Navy; he served several tours of duty including one in Vietnam
during the Vietnam War.

Maupin's work on a Charleston newspaper
was followed with an offer of a post at the San Francisco bureau of the
Associated Press in 1971  He says he knew he was gay since
childhood,[4][5] but didn't have sex until he was 26 and only decided to
come out in 1974.[The same year, he began what would become the Tales
of the City series as a serial in a Marin County-based newspaper, the
Pacific Sun, moving to the San Francisco Chronicle after the Sun's San
Francisco edition folded.


Tales of the City is a series of
novels, the first portions of which were published initially as a
newspaper serial starting on August 8, 1974, in a Marin County
newspaper, The Pacific Sun, picked up in 1976 by the San Francisco
Chronicle, and later reworked into the series of books published by
HarperCollins (then Harper and Row). The first of Maupin's novels,
entitled Tales of the City, was published in 1978. Five more followed in
the 1980s, ending with the last book, Sure of You, in 1989. A seventh
novel published in 2007, Michael Tolliver Lives, continues the story of
some of the characters. In Babycakes, published in 1983, Maupin was one
of the first writers to address the subject of AIDS.[  Of the
autobiographical nature of the characters, he says "I’ve always been all
of the characters in one way or another."[

The Tales of the City
books have been translated into ten languages (French: Les Chroniques
de San Francisco; German: Stadtgeschichten) and there are more than six
million copies in print.

Television miniseries
Main article: Tales of the City (miniseries)

The
first three books in the series have also been converted into three
television miniseries starring Olympia Dukakis and Laura Linney, the
first airing on the American television network PBS and the latter two
on the American cable television channel Showtime

Musical projects

He
collaborated on Anna Madrigal Remembers, a musical work written by Jake
Heggie and performed by choir Chanticleer and mezzo-soprano Frederica
von Stade on August 6, 1999, for which Maupin provided a new libretto.
He also participated in a concert series with Seattle Men's Chorus
entitled Tunes From Tales (Music for Mouse), which included readings
from his books and music from the era

In April, 2010 it was
announced that a theatrical musical version of Tales of the City would
debut in May 2011. The musical has a score and lyrics by Jake Shears and
John Garden of the rock band Scissor Sisters, and a book by Jeff
Whitty. It will be directed by Jason Moore



Maupin has written two novels, Maybe The Moon and The Night Listener, which are not part of the Tales series.

Maybe
The Moon is a story Maupin describes as 'partly autobiographical',
despite the main character being a female heterosexual Jewish dwarf. The
character was also based on his friend Tamara De Treaux, who played the
title character in the 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial[

The
Night Listener is a roman à clef, inspired by Maupin's real-life
experiences concerning the Anthony Godby Johnson hoax.   He says that he
wanted to create a psychological thriller, while being able to put
autobiographical elements in it  The issues he addresses include the
ending of his relationship with his long-term partner and his
relationship with his father. The book very lightly references the Tales
world via Gabriel Noone's assistant, who is one of DeDe Halcyon-Day's
twins from Tales. It was serialized on the internet, on Salon.com, prior
to its print publication The Night Listener has been adapted into a
movie that was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in late January
2006 and released by Miramax the following August

Michael Tolliver Lives
Main article: Michael Tolliver Lives

Prior
to the 2007 release of Michael Tolliver Lives, Maupin had been quoted
on his website as saying that another Tales of the City novel was
unlikely  Although Maupin originally stated that this novel was "NOT a
sequel to Tales [of the City] and it's certainly not Book 7 in the
series," ] he later conceded that "I’ve stopped denying that this is
book seven in Tales of the City, as it clearly is ... I suppose I didn’t
want people to be thrown by the change in the format, as this is a
first person novel unlike the third person format of the Tales of the
City books and it’s about one character who interrelates with other
characters. Having said that, it is still very much a continuation of
the saga and I think I realized it was very much time for me to come
back to this territory."

The novel is written from the
first-person perspective of Tales character Michael 'Mouse' Tolliver,
now in his fifties and living as an HIV-positive man. It also features
appearances by familiar Tales characters, such as Anna Madrigal  Maupin
said: "I was interested in pursuing the life of an aging gay man, and
Michael was the perfect vehicle ... However, as soon as I started
writing, I found that, one by one, all the other characters stepped
forward and asked to be present. It felt natural, so I went with it." He
calls it "a smaller, more personal novel than I've written in the
past." The book was released on June 12, 2007, declared 'Michael
Tolliver Day' by the mayor of San Francisco

His next project is
another Tales volume: "Whatever I have to offer seems to come through
those characters ... And I see no reason to abandon them."[

Amazon.com
has the novel Mary Ann in Autumn: A Tales of the City Novel available
for pre-order with a release date of November 2, 2010.

Personal life

Maupin's
former partner of 12 years, Terry Anderson, was once a gay rights
activist (Maupin himself has done much of that sort of work),[and
co-authored the screenplay for The Night Listener. He lived with
Anderson in San Francisco and New Zealand  Ian McKellen is a friend and
former lover and Christopher Isherwood was a mentor, friend, and
influence as a writer

Maupin is married to Christopher Turner, a
website producer and photographer whom he had seen on a dating website
and then "chased him down Castro Street, saying, 'Didn’t I see you on
Daddyhunt.com?'"[ Maupin and Turner were married in Vancouver, British
Columbia, Canada, on February 18, 2007, though Maupin says that they had
called each other "husband" for two years prior

He enjoys doing public readings of his own works and has recorded them all as audiobooks



Bibliography

Tales of the City
Maupin, Armistead (1978). Tales of the City. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0060906545.
Maupin, Armistead (1980). More Tales of the City. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0060907266.
Maupin, Armistead (1982). Further Tales of the City. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0060149914.
Maupin, Armistead (1984). Babycakes. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0060152621.
Maupin, Armistead (1987). Significant Others. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0060964081.
Maupin, Armistead (1989). Sure of You. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0060161647.
Maupin, Armistead (2007). Michael Tolliver Lives. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 9780060761356.
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Other novels
Maupin, Armistead (1992). Maybe the Moon. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0060165529.
Maupin, Armistead (2000). The Night Listener. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 006017143X.
[edit]
Awards
2007, Barbary Coast Award, presented by Litquake Literary Festival, San Francisco[36]
2006, Best Gay Read Award, presented by the Big Gay Read Literature Festival, in the UK[37]
2001, Gay, Lesbian, & bisexual Book Award[38]
1999, Capital Award, presented by GLADD Media Awards[39]