Alysia Abbott’s memoir of her father

It is that rare  event that happens when a life and a time come together in a way that better enables us to understand both.  Alysia Abbott has lead such a life.

Her father, poet, writer and literary figure Steve Abbott was one of the early leaders of the gay rights movement, first in Atlanta and then in San Francisco.  Alysia’s mother would die in a car accident when she was two, and she would be raised by her gay father in 70’s San Francisco.  Long before being a gay parent would become mainstream.

Shortly after his death from AIDS, in 1992, Alysia would find her father's journals.  Now she tells her story and his, in her memoir  Fairyland: A Memoir of My Father.

My conversation with Alysia Abbott: