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# Event with authors Mark Ward and Daren Kay to mark 40 years of Sussex AIDS Helpline on Sunday, December 1
- URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/event-with-authors-mark-ward-and-daren-kay-to-mark-40-years-of-sussex-aids-helpline-on-sunday-december-1/
- Published: 2024-10-30T13:30:35.000Z
- Updated: 2024-10-30T11:42:45.000Z
- Description: Marking 40 years since the formation of the Sussex AIDS Helpline, to commemorate World AIDS Day on Sunday, December 1 the presenters of HIV Hour – David Fray and Josh Sharpe – will interview two writers – Mark Ward and Daren Kay – whose books tell the stories of people grappling with the challenges
- Author: Graham Robson
- Tags: Brighton, Brighton & Hove, Daren Kay, LGBT, LGBTQ, WAD, WAD 2025, World Aids Day

Marking 40 years since the formation of the **Sussex AIDS Helpline**, to commemorate **World AIDS Day** on **Sunday, December 1** the presenters of **HIV Hour** – **David Fray** and **Josh Sharpe** – will interview two writers – **Mark Ward** and **Daren Kay** – whose books tell the stories of people grappling with the challenges of that decade.

Celebrating the resolve, kindness and humour shown by communities who feel they are under siege, the afternoon promises laughter as well as poignancy, on this most important of days. As such, the event will be a fitting celebration of the lives of loved ones lost to AIDS-related diseases – as well as an opportunity to raise awareness of those who are still living with HIV.

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/mw-e1730286855280.jpg)

**Mark Ward**  
Fresh from the launch party at the **Two Brewers**, Mark will be talking about – and reading from – his memoir ***Bleeding Fabulous: the life of a haemosexual***– charting how his life changed beyond recognition after receiving infected blood products as part of his treatment for haemophilia in the late ’70s and ’80s; his role in the campaign to hold the government to account; and 50 years of being fabulous!

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/dk-e1730286757583.jpg)

  
**Daren Kay**  
Beginning in 2020 with an ominous card-reading that the fortune-teller hasn’t drawn since the mid-80s, Daren’s dark satire, ***The Brightonians Under Siege***, reflects upon how differently the world responded to Covid compared to that ‘other’ pandemic 40 years before.

The event takes place **2 – 4pm** on **Sunday, December 1** at **Brighton Museum & Art Gallery**, Brighton, BN1 1EE, ahead of the annual candle-lit vigil and name reading, which takes place from **6pm** at **New Steine Gardens**.

[**The event is free, but seats are limited, so book now.**](https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/marlborough-theatre-productions-ltd/t-vvamklv?ref=scenemag.co.uk)