By Krista Danis –
The Aurora Public Library will welcome author Andrew E. Stoner for a discussion on his May 30 book release, The Journalist of Castro Street: The Life of Randy Shilts, at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 8 at the Santori Public Library of Aurora, 101 S. River Street. Free copies of his biography will be available to the first 30 registrants.
Andrew E. Stoner is an author and journalist who serves as assistant professor of communication studies at California State University in Sacramento, Calif.. Born in Indiana in 1964, Stoner earned his Ph.D in public communication and technology from Colorado State University in 2013. Some of his first published works illustrate a firm connection to the Midwest and Indiana in particular, with book titles such as Notorious 92: The Most Famous Murder from Each of Indiana’s 92 Counties and Wicked Indianapolis, emphasizing an early authorial interest in true-crime journalism and Indiana history.
His most recent biography, The Journalist of Castro Street: The Life of Randy Shilts, takes both a political and personal turn as he chronicles the complicated life and career of this iconic reporter. In the preface, Stoner highlights the impact Shilts had on him as a graduate student, stating, “What Shilts accomplished with his writing, becoming a respected and sought-after expert on once-hidden subjects, shining light in dark places, was what I envisioned it meant to be a journalist and a truly liberated member of this society as a gay man”.
With The Journalist of Castro Street due for release May 30, the Aurora Public Library will present a rare first opportunity to hear Stoner speak about his research and writing on the life of a local legend. The late Shilts moved to Aurora as a young child, was graduated from West Aurora High School, and attending Aurora College, now Aurora University. Working closely with the Aurora Public Library librarian, Robb Winder, Stoner pieced together a story of young Shilts during his struggles to identify himself in a particular place and time, who ultimately found himself on the West Coast during the AIDS epidemic.
“When you get down to it, Randy Shilts is one of the most important people to come out of Aurora and impact events on a national scale. It’s about time someone wrote his biography,” Winder said.
We are so excited to highlight the life of such an iconic local figure through the expert lens of esteemed author, Andrew E. Stoner. This discussion is an important opportunity to showcase the ways in which our Library can inform and inspire community research in service to a more far-reaching audience. Pride weekend, June 7-9, can be kept alive in Aurora at the Santori Library with a welcome to author Andrew E. Stoner when he shares his research on Shilts and his contributions to the historical gay rights movement. Registration is open for an opportunity to win a copy of Stoner’s book on Randy Shilts.
Krista Danis is the Aurora Public Library events and program coordinator.
Thank you for this story. Shilts’s book And the Band Played On was essentially a textbook on the blossoming AIDS crisis in the mid-80s. It will be interesting to learn more about him.