BU Research Blog

After researching the life of AIDS activist Pedro Zamora for some time (since my Phd in 2005 in fact), and having the opportunity more recently to work on an ‘educational biography’ of his life, partly funded by the Fusion Project a couple of years ago, I am delighted that the book is now coming out on 1 June, 2016.  Pedro’s life story is inspiring, he was an immigrant from Cuba arriving in the United States in 1980, aged 8.  He found out that he was HIV positive aged 17, and went on to become possibly the most well known HIV/AIDS educator who was able to reach youth audiences through his appearance on the reality television series The Real World: San Francisco in 1994.  He died not long after the series was broadcast at aged 22, but he reached so many people, and his message is still so relevant, when we consider that HIV/AIDS is more than ever a worldwide concern, devastating in many places.  Pedro’s message touches us deeply, and his message is not lost. I must sincerely thank not only John M Clum (Professor Emeritus of Theater Studies and English at Duke University) and Toni Tan at Cambria Press for commissioning the book, when I found it difficult to find anyone interested in an ‘educational biography’,  but also to Bill Nichols and Christine Holmlund for such endorsements of the book.