Features / Armistead Maupin
“An Evening With Armistead Maupin” coming to St. George’s Bristol
“By the end of the evening, you’ll have a warm feeling”.
That’s the promise Armistead Maupin makes of his upcoming “An Evening With Armistead Maupin” show, which he’s bringing to Bristol this autumn.
is needed now More than ever
“We’ll have made a connection”.
It’s easy to believe Armistead as he sits across from me on Zoom; he’s warm, personable, and remarkably humble about what has been an incredible career spanning almost half a century.
Armistead Maupin is an author perhaps best known for Tales Of The City, an incredibly popular series of novels about the lives of a multitude of colourful comic characters living in San Francisco. Since first being published as a column in the San Francisco Chronicle in the 1970’s, the series’ popularity has never dipped; last year it was adapted into a Netflix series starring, among others, Elliot Page.
Elliot Page in the Netflix adaptation of Maupin’s Tales of The City. Image: Netflix
Of Armistead’s extensive catalogue of writing, the work I personally find most impactful is 2017’s “Logical Family”. This beautiful and touching memoir explores the influences and situations that inspired Armistead as a writer throughout his life; it frequently explores the beauty of what many of us in the queer community call “found family”- those deep, lifelong bonds that we form as we encounter kindred spirits through our lives.
For queer people, these bonds often supplement or replace birth blood relations in the face of familial rejection.
“It’s the idea of growing beyond your “biological family” to discover your “logical family”- the one that actually makes sense to you” Armistead explains, putting an incredibly eloquent spin on this fundamental aspect of the queer experience.
Armistead will be interviewed by a variety of influential LGBTQ+ people. Image via Fane productions.
This will be the first time Armistead has toured the UK since 2019, and he’s excited about the prospect of reconnecting with the wider queer community for the first time since the pandemic began.
“Gathering in one place, being together- it’s ritual, it’s communion. Especially for queer people.”
“I’m excited to see real people.”
I ask him what the highlight of his career has been. He pauses for a moment- an understandable reaction, considering his career spans over four decades and has been recognised by awards from The Trevor Project and the Publishing Triangle of New York (to name only two), not to mention an honorary doctorate from the University Of North Carolina.
“I have to say, it would be being there for Ian McKellen when he was about to come out”.
“He came to me and said “I need to come out, I’m going to”. Being able to support him then was certainly a highlight”.
Clearly, my surprise at this response shows on my face. Armistead smiles.
“Really, I’d say all of my career highlights, my life highlights, have been personal things like that”.
Sir Ian McKellen and Armistead Maupin in 1998. Image: Outfest.
“I’ve met so many wonderful queer people. And it’s all through being queer, and out, and openly queer”.
“It’s such a privilege”.
A variety of these “wonderful queer people” will be in conversation with Armistead as he embarks on his upcoming UK tour, including Graham Norton, who will be interviewing Armistead for the Brighton show, and Russell Tovey, who will be doing likewise in London.
Book reviewer and online personality Simon Savidge will be the host of the Bristol date of the tour, which will be taking place at St George’s on October 26th.
In the space of one fifteen minute Zoom call, Armistead has made good on his promise of warm fuzzy feelings – I’ve been almost brought to joyful tears more than once – and we have certainly made a connection.
Given a whole evening and a theatre, I’m certain he’ll do the same for you too.
Main image courtesy of Fane Productions.
Read More: Episode eight of the Queer Catch-Up: Science fiction, politics and LGBTQ+ history
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