What Now? Community, Love, Grief, and Resistance, from HIV to Long COVID

Jennifer Johnson Avril and JD Davids, co-authors of a chapter in , and Emily Bass, author of , will share lessons from their decades of advocacy efforts and open up dialogue on today’s challenges. Includes a reception, book signing, and light refreshments.

Masks are strongly encouraged.

This event is part of Lofty Pigeon Books' What Now? series, where we convene local experts to talk with our community about politics, society, and more in the aftermath of the 2024 election.

From an international cast of leading activist communicators, a timely and instructive handbook for telling stories that change the world

In Liberation Stories, today's foremost progressive and leftist communicators, organizers, artists, journalists, and academics share their collective insights in one powerful volume.

Featuring in-depth case studies of both contemporary and historical movements, Liberation Stories distills successful theories, strategies, and tactics for anyone wanting to understand—and participate in—the diverse initiatives currently shaping our society.

As far-right and conservative movements gain traction worldwide—attacking our books, our bodies, and our democracies—Liberation Stories emerges as a vital resource for constructing the world we envision, one story at a time.

With his 2003 announcement of a program known as PEPFAR, George W. Bush launched an astonishingly successful American war against a global pandemic. PEPFAR played a key role in slashing HIV cases and AIDS deaths in sub-Saharan Africa, leading to the brink of epidemic control. Resilient in the face of flatlined funding and political headwinds, PEPFAR is America’s singular example of how to fight long-term plague—and win.

To End a Plague, which was shortlisted for the Lionel Gelber Prize, is not merely the definitive history of this extraordinary program; it traces the lives of the activists who first impelled President Bush to take action, and later sought to prevent AIDS deaths at the whims of American politics. Moving from raucous street protests to the marbled halls of Washington and the clinics and homes where Ugandan people living with HIV fight to survive, it reveals an America that was once capable of real and meaningful change—and illuminates imperatives for future pandemic wars. Exhaustively researched and vividly written, this is the true story of an American moonshot.

Jennifer Johnson Avril (she/they) utilizes strategic, targeted narrative change to build organizational power and motivate constituencies to action. Jennifer currently works with Warner Communications. In her previous role as Director of Advocacy Communications at NYC’s Housing Works, Jennifer created campaigns that elevated city, state, and federal policy issues such HIV/AIDS, homelessness, LGBTQ+ rights, harm reduction, and healthcare access. Her writing on activism and mission-driven messaging has appeared in The Advocate, The Body, Bulldog Reporter, and PR News. She is the co-author of a chapter on HIV/AIDS and Long COVID narrative justice for Liberation Stories: Building Narrative Power for 21st Century Social Movements (New Press). Jennifer holds an MA in Media Studies for Social Change from CUNY-Queens College. She is a former floor member of ACT UP NY and a current member of the At Louis Place writing community. She resides in Brooklyn, NY, with her family.

Emily Bass is a journalist, author, historian, artist and activist focusing on pandemics, the forces that perpetuate them, and the movements within bodies and in communities that recognize and resist them. Her book To End a Plague: America’s Fight to Defeat AIDS in Africa (PublicAffairs, 2021) was a finalist for the 2022 Lionel Gelber Prize. A Culture Push Associated Artist and Fulbright journalism fellowship recipient, Bass has also been awarded fellowships from NYSCA/NYFA (nonfiction), the Center for New Jewish Culture and the New York Public Library (Martin Duberman Visiting Research Fellowship). Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, n+1, and many other publications, including ‘zines made with the What Would an HIV Doula Do? collective, of which she is a member. She has served as an external expert for the World Health Organization and co-led a transnational activist coalition fighting for comprehensive HIV programs. She is the principal of The Bass Lab LLC, which supports organizations working on the frontlines of securing health and human rights for all. A Manhattan native, Emily lives in Brooklyn with her family.

JD Davids (he/him) is a chronically ill and disabled transgender and queer writer with decades of work in world-changing social movements, policy advocacy and journalism. He shares stories and strategies through The Cranky Queer Guide to Chronic Illness, as a disability justice activist, research advocate, harm reductionist and sexual liberationist. He’s currently at CUNY Graduate Center working on a memoir on becoming a sex god during the COVID-19 pandemic and research on untold histories of HIV and queer activism. Recent/upcoming publications include authored or co-authored chapters for Liberation Stories: Building Narrative Power for 21st Century Social Movements, Unfolding Corpus: Vulnerability and Radicality in Times of Plagues, and Race, Justice, and HIV: Visions for a Society Without Bars. He's a member of the At Louis Place writing community and the What Would an HIV Doula Do collective.

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