The Inspiration

In September 1989 I met an extraordinarily brave lady whom I shall call Tanya. She looked like an ‘ordinary’ woman. Although shy at first, Tanya revealed a warm and sensitive disposition. She had, however, been recently widowed. Her husband had died from AIDS at the age of 32 and had left her, then 28 years old, HTV seropositive.

The remarkable thing about Tanya was her vitality and unending desire to help others understand the dire consequences of contracting the HIV infection. The national media gave her plight full attention and I’m sure many people have been encouraged by her stoic bravery. This anthology has been inspired partly as a result of the brief friendship that Tanya and I shared.

I then worked for twelve months on a project which resulted in a charity auction of donated gifts from well-known people for a ‘local’ AIDS group. To say I was disappointed at the interest shown by the minimal attendance is an understatement – I was angry and vowed to work on another project which would be a success.

You have in your hand the result of that promise and I thank you for buying it.

Acknowledgements

My thanks go to Sir John Gielgud, whose generous cheques supplied the means to start this project. Thanks also to Richard Adams, whose story was the first to arrive in late January 1991. This gave me a fine start and the strong incentive needed to see this project through.

Thanks to Ruth Rendell, Deborah Moggach and Lord Jeffrey Archer for taking my phone calls, answering my letters and giving me advice and encouragement, and, of course, thanks to all those authors who said ‘yes’. Last, but by no means least, a warm thank you to David and Jane Cornwell for their very generous cheque.

Jason Cheriton