A critically and commercially successful writer, Armistead Maupin is the author of the globally best-selling, six-volume Tales of the City series. Three TV miniseries have been made from the series to date, the first of which received a Peabody Award. Another novel, The Night Listener (2000), has recently been adapted for the screen. Based on some of the author’s own experiences, Maupin describes the novel as “a mystery of the heart.” The movie version stars Robin Williams as Gabriel Noone, a radio personality and storyteller who gets involved with a wunderkind writer named Pete D. Logand. The screenplay was co-written by Maupin, director Patrick Stettner, and Terry Anderson, Maupin’s former partner and literary manager.
I spoke to Maupin via phone in San Francisco about his novel and the new film adaptation, about his æsthetic sensibility in general, and about his views on the future of gay and lesbian people.
