100 Heroes: Edmund White
The gay man who helped shape contemporary literature.
Edmund White was an American novelist, memoirist, playwright, biographer, and essayist.
White was renowned as a writer of gay literature and an important influence on contemporary queer writers.
Early life and education
Born in Cincinnati in 1940, White grew up in Illinois and went to college in Michigan.
After college, he moved to New York City where he worked as a journalist.
Literary career
White's debut novel was Forgetting Elena, published in 1973.
In 1977, The Joy of Gay Sex was published - written in collaboration with Charles Silverstein. A sex-positive book, this was one of the major representations as sex between men as loving and positive.
White wrote a number of autobiographical works that discussed his sexual encounters, and traced his life from boyhood to middle age.
Legacy
White's writing are an example of constructing the gay self - understanding what it means to be a gay man and navigating how you present yourself to the world.
He wrote for a gay audience.
His books helped gay men to see themselves in literature - their desires, their experiences, their fears, and their loves.
Death
White died on 3 June, 2025. He was 85.
He had been living with HIV since he was diagnosed in 1984.
White was married to Michael Carroll - there were together for almost 30 years.
