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| The front cover of More Than Fiction reflects all the intersectional layers of Poz women's realities as they journey through the torrents in order to catch site of guiding lights along the way. COVER & BOOK DESIGN BY ZAHRA AGJEE |
"These are beautiful stories of love and loss, faith and miracles, strength and community, and smiles and tears that speak to the strength of the storytellers. Each story stands as a powerful example of women who have thrived in the face of HIV stigma and each provides a universal lesson in resilience." - Shannon Ryan, Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention (BlackCAP)
More Than Fiction is a beautifully crafted collection of 12 profoundly intimate and introspective narratives written by South Asian women living with HIV/AIDS. The writers worked throughout the spring and summer of this year to draft their creative non-fiction stories and fantasies that express both their struggles through the dark days of an HIV diagnosis and their triumphs as they navigated networks of support to find care, compassion, kindness, knowledge, friendship, and love.
I urge you, dear reader, to explore these 12 honest and inspiring stories and greet these writers' perspectives on life, love, self-care, dreams, and their relationships with their families, friends, colleagues, lovers, partners, and children, with open minds and hearts, and with a strong desire to challenge your own assumptions, biases, and prejudices about people living with HIV/AIDS.
The fact that these women cannot disclose their real identities is a testament to the silencing intensity of HIV stigma. If they were to disclose, will they be shamed? Judged? Denied friendship and intimacy? Pushed out by their families and communities? Or physically and emotionally harmed? Find out what the historical pattern has been in our societies, and then you'll know. And when you know, do something about it, help make the answer to every one of these questions a resounding "NO"!
Yes,
it takes courage to speak out and be open about identities and health, but it also takes tremendous courage to hold it
all in, day in and day out, and continue to put a strong face forward, continue
to care, to support, to love. And these writers speak to that and more in More Than Fiction.
Everyone's making reading lists this fall. I encourage you to add More Than Fiction to that list because it's just one of those collections you won't be able to put down until you've read the very last page. And it won't end just there. There is no "The End". After reading these stories, there is work to be done in our communities, far and wide, to support healing and to help change people's perceptions of and responses to people living with HIV/AIDS, so they can get the support and care they need to survive and thrive.
Thanks to the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention for submitting the project proposal to MAC AIDS, who gave the project a thumbs up and provided generous funding to help the writers achieve their goals. The project team also included two brilliant mavens, creative writing and photo art facilitators, respectively: Sheniz Janmohamed and Zahra Agjee.
The book is available free of charge. To order your copy, please contact phasupport@asaap.ca.
