World's writers make AIDS gesture

The South African AIDS NGO, Treatment Action Campaign, is to receive all royalties from a collaborative literary effort by 21 of the world's best-known authors, including the internationally acclaimed Salman Rushdie. 'Telling Tales', an anthology of short stories, was the brainchild of Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer, whose works gave voice to South Africa's apartheid struggle. She said the book allowed the writers to make a gesture of compassion toward the estimated 40-million people living with HIV/AIDS globally. The local Mail and Guardian Online quoted Gordimer as saying: "I began to feel rather guilty on behalf of myself as a writer and other writers, because the musicians were having these big gigs and beautiful concerts in aid of people suffering from HIV/AIDS ... In other words, they were giving away talent, which for us, as artists, is the best thing we have, the most precious thing..."