Authorised biography of playwright and activist Larry Kramer in the works

The first biography of playwright and gay activist Larry Kramer will be written with the full support of the subject himself.

Bill Goldstein has been tapped to write the authorised biography by Henry Holt and Co. The book, not yet titled, will draw on interviews with Kramer; his husband David Webster; friends and foes; as well as papers in Kramer’s archives at Yale University. Goldstein will have complete editorial freedom.

Kramer, now 83, wrote The Normal Heart for the stage and the screenplay for the film Women In Love. He is best known for his public fight to secure medical treatment, acceptance and civil rights for people with Aids. He cofounded the Gay Men’s Health Crisis and founded Act Up, which has provided a model for liberation movements, including Black Lives Matter and #MeToo. “Larry, in private, as with many people, is often very different from what his public persona is and I think people don’t often understand his humour or how beloved he is by his friends,’’ Goldstein said in an interview this week. “And then there are people who were his enemies — sometimes they’re the same person. So I hope to capture all of that. No one is neutral about Larry Kramer.’’

The biography will trace Kramer’s life and activism but also will dive deeply into his writing. “My goal is to take him seriously as a writer because that’s what he began as and that is what he continues to be, whether it’s a screenwriter, a novelist or a playwright, and he’s had so much impact in each of those areas,’’ Goldstein said.

Goldstein is the author of The World Broke In Two: Virginia Woolf, T.S. Eliot, D.H. Lawrence, E.M. Forster And The Year That Changed Literature.