Creative Writing leader catches up with American writer Armistead Maupin

The University of Northampton’s Subject Leader in English and Creative Writing celebrated the launch of esteemed American writer Armistead Maupin’s memoir this week.

Prof Richard Canning attended the promotion of Maupin’s Logical Family: A Memoir at London’s Gay’s the Word bookshop on Sunday 29 October.

The venerable shop, which featured in the film Pride as the headquarters of the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners movement, which numbered UoN Chancellor Reverend Richard Coles amongst its members, hosted Maupin on his whistle-stop UK tour.

Richard said: “It is always a pleasure to meet Armistead. His Tales of the City novels transformed my life and that of millions of other readers. Who wouldn’t enjoy a walk down Barbary Lane, and who hasn’t wanted a landlady like Anna Madrigal?

“Maupin was decades ahead of his time in the social politics found in his novels, and they have changed millions of lives – LGBTQ and others – for the better.

“My first academic article was on Tales of the City, and Armistead also featured in my first book of Conversations with Gay Novelists, Gay Fiction Speaks. We chatted for a whole afternoon almost exactly 20 years ago at his then-home in San Francisco. Time flies when you’re having fun. And talking to Maupin is almost as much fun as reading him. I can’t wait to read the memoir.”