28 Stories of AIDS in Africa is a 2007 non-fiction book by Canadian journalist and author Stephanie Nolen.[1] It tells 28 stories of people who have worked tackling HIV/AIDS in healthcare, as advocates, and people who have been diagnosed as HIV positive and their family members.
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Author | Stephanie Nolen |
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Subject | HIV/AIDS in Africa |
Published | 1 May 2007 |
Publisher | Walker & Company, Alfred A. Knopf Canada |
Publication place | Canada |
Pages | 384 |
Awards | 2007 PEN “Courage” Award winner |
ISBN | 978-0802715982 |
The book has been met with widespread critical acclaim from academics, humanitarians, and book reviewers.
It was a national best selling book in Canada.[2]
In 2003, Nolen, an award-winning[3] Canadian journalist, persuaded her superiors at The Globe and Mail to let her investigate and report on the AIDS pandemic in Africa.[4] She relocated to Johannesburg where she spent four years researching every aspect of the pandemic.[4]
The book profiles 28 Africans who have HIV/AIDS, who have worked in healthcare or advocacy, or have otherwise been affected by the pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa, noting that 70% of global HIV cases are in sub-Saharan Africa.[5]
The book opens with background material about the work of Nolen, an explanation of HIV/AIDS in lay terms, and notes that 28 stories have been chosen because 28 million people had been infected with HIV/AIDS.[5][4]
Each of the 28 stories opens with a photograph of the person that is the subject of the chapter.[5]
The book ends with a chapter about how readers can help.[27]
Stephen Lewis described the book as "the best book ever written about AIDS, certainly the best I've ever read".[28]
The Guardian praised the book for focusing on the stories of people in Africa, rather than USA, and also credited Nolen for linking the stories to culture, society and politics.[1]
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation described the book as "timely, transformative, thoroughly accessible" and described how Nolen writes with "power, understanding and simplicity."[29]
Bono called the book a "formidable book of record."[30]
Laretta Benjamin, an AIDS researcher, described the book as one of the best she has read, complimented Nolan for putting a human face on the statistics.[5]
The New Times of Rwanda described the book as probably the best written account of the history of HIV/AIDS.[4]
James Orbinski said of the book "Read. Weep. Rage. And above all else - like those people described in this book - find the courage to do."[3]
The book has been published in seven languages in eleven countries,[32] including: