Nobel Laureate Launches Book of Short Stories to Raise Money for Treatment Action Campaign

Nobel Prize-winning South African novelist Nadine Gordimer and a host of authors have collaborated to produce an anthology of short stories to raise money for the South African HIV/AIDS treatment advocacy group Treatment Action Campaign, the New York Times reports. Gordimer organized the "ambitious campaign" in hopes that the literary world could work together to help fight HIV/AIDS worldwide similar to the way that musicians have raised money for different social issues (Lee, New York Times, 11/29). "I became very conscious of the fact that musicians and singers were having concert performances in aid of [HIV/AIDS] victims, and I thought, 'What are writers doing?'" Gordimer said. She asked 20 authors worldwide -- including Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Susan Sontag, Woody Allen, John Updike, Arthur Miller and Chinua Achebe -- to participate, and each agreed, London's Guardian reports (Barkham, Guardian, 11/29). Gordimer said she chose writers who she knew had a "concern about what happens in the world" and asked them to submit stories -- all of which previously have been published -- that do not discuss HIV/AIDS issues, according to the Times. The writers and publishers agreed to waive royalties, and Gordimer's publisher decided to publish the book in paperback to ensure a more affordable price (New York Times, 11/29). U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is expected to launch "Telling Tales," which will be published in 11 languages, in New York on Tuesday, just before World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, AFP/Mail & Guardian reports (AFP/Mail & Guardian, 11/29).

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