Maupin

A decade ago, Armistead Maupin boldly declared that it was over. The Days of Anna Madrigal, the ninth in his illustrious queer novel cycle Tales of the City, was, he claimed, the last outing for the residents of 28 Barbary Lane. But ever since the first of the Tales was published in 1978, the lure of the “logical family” has proved irresistible. Maupin is back with a tenth instalment. How tuneful is this unexpected encore?This iteration of the Tales is set in the early 1990s, and helmed by Anna Madrigal’s daughter Mona…

Armistead Maupin is just where he wants to be. But that’s not where you might expect. The writer who made his name as the bard of San Francisco – or at least an earlier incarnation of it, featuring gay jockey-short dance competitions, weed‑smoking landladies and, crucially, affordable housing – is now happily ensconced in south London. A 1930s terrace in Clapham feels so much like home that he looks at me wide-eyed when I say that my trip to see him in SW11 met with not a few gasps of surprise. “Oh, get over it,” he…