About the author

Victoria Noe

<p>I&#39;ve been a writer most of my life, but didn&#39;t admit it until 2009.</p><p>After earning a master&#39;s degree in Speech and Dramatic Art at the University of Iowa, I moved to Chicago, where I worked as a stage manager, director and administrator, in addition to being a founding board member of the League of Chicago Theatres. I was good at fundraising, and branched out on my own, raising millions for arts, education and AIDS service organizations. Later I became an award-winning sales consultant of children&#39;s books. But when a concussion ended my sales career, I decided to finally keep a promise to a dying friend to write a book about friends grieving their friends.</p><p>That book got out of hand and turned into the <em>Friend Grief</em> series of six small books, which have earned recognition by filling a gap in grief support literature.</p><p>In 2015, <em>Library Journal </em>named me their first SELF-e Ambassador. Also that year, one of my freelance articles, &quot;Long Time Survivor&quot;, won the Christopher Hewitt Award for Creative Nonficiton.</p><p>In 2018, I will release a book that&#39;s not part of this series but one that is near and dear to my heart - <em>Fag Hags, Divas and Moms: The Legacy of Straight Women in the AIDS Community -&nbsp;</em>the first book to recognize the accomplishments of these women around the world.</p><p>I&#39;m a card-carrying member of the Alliance of Independent Authors, Chicago Writers Association, Chicago Women in Publishing and ACT UP New York (just kidding: we don&#39;t have membership cards in ACT UP).</p><p>I have no idea what&#39;s next, but I hope it&#39;s fun.</p><p></p>