Brief talk and signing of the 2014 edition of the second book in Victoria Noe‘s Friend Grief series. Friend Grief and AIDS: Thirty Years of Burying Our Friends grew out of her involvement in Chicago’s AIDS community in the late 80s/early 90s. 25% of the sales (print and ebook) benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Victoria Noe began her career as a stage manager, director and administrator in addition to being a founding board member of the League of Chicago Theatres. She transferred her skills to raise money for arts, educational and AIDS service organizations, and later an award-winning sales consultant of children’s books. But after a concussion impacted her ability to continue in sales, she switched gears to keep a promise to a dying friend to write a book.

That book is now an award-winning series. The first three – Friend Grief and Anger: When Your Friend Dies and No One Gives A Damn; Friend Grief and AIDS: Thirty Years of Burying Our Friends and Friend Grief and 9/11: The Forgotten Mourners were published in 2013. The next book in the series, Friend Grief and the Military: Band of Friends, will be published on Memorial Day, 2014.

Noe is a member of Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLI), Chicago Writers Association and ACT UP/NY. Her freelance articles have appeared on numerous grief and writing blogs as well as Windy City Times, Chicago Tribune and Huffington Post. Her website, www.FriendGrief.com, was named one of the top ten grief support websites in 2012. You can follow her on Twitter @Victoria_Noe.