Northwest Press has teamed up with Belgian cartoonist Tom Bouden to release an English translation of his “graphic novelette” Positive, which explores the aftermath of a diagnosis of HIV infection in a young woman named Sarah.
The story frankly, tenderly, and humorously follows Sarah as she learns of her HIV infection, deals with doctors and medications (and scatological side-effects), tackles the issue of sex with her HIV-negative partner, and makes her way from terror and uncertainty to hope for the future.
“Positive is a story with the universal message of how to live life without being afraid,” writes GayLeague.com’s Joe Palmer in the introduction to the book. “This is the story I wish I’d been able to read after my diagnosis years ago. It is the story I hope everyone regardless of his or her sero-status will have the opportunity to read and by which to be inspired.”
Tom Bouden is a Belgian comic artist. He was born in 1971 and lives in Bruges with his husband. His career started in 1993 with comics for gay magazines, followed by the pseudo autobiography Max & Sven. His English publications include the all-gay version of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of being Earnest, the explicit In Bed with David & Jonathan and Queerville.
Northwest Press is a book publisher dedicated to publishing the best lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender comics collections and graphic novels. The company has published six full-length print graphic novels and over three dozen digital books since its inception in 2010. Its first book, Jon Macy’s Teleny and Camille, received a Lambda Literary Award, and Northwest’s publisher Charles “Zan” Christensen has been recognized as one of OUT magazine’s “OUT 100” and by Gay.net as one of “13 to Watch in 2013“.
Positive
