About this Collection
Paul Landry Monette was born in Lawrence, MA, on Oct. 16, 1945; BA, English, Yale, 1967; taught at Cheshire Academy, CT, 1968-70; taught at Milton Academy, MA, and Pine Manor College, 1970-76; published first book of poetry, The looker-on : Fra Angelico, crucifixion, about 1450 (1973); met Roger Horwitz in 1974 and the two of them moved to Los Angeles, CA, 1977; writings include Carpenter at the asylum (1975), Taking care of Mrs. Carroll (1978), The gold diggers (1979), Long shot (1981), and No witnesses (1981); after Horwitz’s death in 1986, Monette wrote Love alone: 18 elegies for Rog (1988), Borrowed time: an AIDS memoir (1988), Afterlife (1990), and Halfway home (1991); Monette’s work, Borrowed time : an AIDS memoir, was nominated as best biography for the National Book Critics’ Circle Award; Monette wrote of his struggle for identity as a gay man in his book, Becoming a man : half a life story (1992), which won the National Book Award for nonfiction in 1992; final publications include Last watch of the night (1994) and West of yesterday, east of summer (1994); he was diagnosed as HIV-positive in 1990 and died of complications from AIDS on Feb. 10, 1995.