For Immediate Release

Media Contact: Justin Burke - 213.201.1525

EMAIL:jburke@apla.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 26, 2000

WORKSHOP COUNTS TEN YEARS OF CHRONICLING THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIVING WITH AIDS

FOUNDER IRENE BORGER WILL PASS THE TORCH TO JOHN FRITZLEN AND DANNY NUSSBAUM NOVEMBER 9 AT AIDS PROJECT LOS ANGELES

Los Angeles -- AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) invites the public to listen to the personal experiences of people LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS, their loved ones and caregivers. Writers will share their works from ten years of The Writers Workshop on November 9, from 6:30-9:00 PM at 1313 North Vine Street (the corner of Fountain and Vine). For more information, please call 323-993-1600.

"What an amazing gift--to be with people writing within crucial stories," says Borger. "It delights me that my colleagues and friends John Fritzlen and Dan Nussbaum will be at APLA listening to the next wave of necessary tales."

More than 200 people have participated in the Writers' Workshop, founded by artist in residence and editor of the APLA Writers Workshop Collection, From a Burning House, Irene Borger. The Writers Workshop was conceived to help people put into words the emotions, experiences, and clearheaded accounts of living with HIV and AIDS for both the infected and affected. Other writers and health professionals are taking part in the "Teaching the Teachers" workshop also facilitated by John Fritzlen and Daniel Nussbaum. Since, 1991 members of AIDS Project Los Angeles' Writers Workshop have performed public readings to enthusiastic audiences, as well as received national attention on radio (NPR), television (Macneil-Lehrer News Hour), and in print (The Advocate, Poets and Writers).

AIDS Project Los Angeles, a non-profit community-based organization, provides direct services to more than 8,000 men, women and children living with HIV and AIDS in Los Angeles County. Services include a food bank, professional dental care, housing assistance, transportation, mental health counseling, case management, home health care and Adult and Child Buddy Support. APLA also provides extensive treatment and prevention education and advocacy on local, state and federal AIDS-related legislation.

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