Holding the Man
Holding the Man is a 1995 memoir by Australian writer, actor, and activist Timothy Conigrave. It tells of his 15-year love affair with John Caleo, which started when they met in the mid-1970s at Xavier College, an all-boys Jesuit Catholic school in Melbourne, and follows their relationship through the 1990s when they both developed AIDS. The book, which won the 1995 Human Rights Award for Non-Fiction, has been adapted as a play, a docudrama, and in 2015 a film starring Ryan Corr, Craig Stott, Anthony La Paglia, Geoffrey Rush and Guy Pearce.
First edition | |
| Author | Timothy Conigrave |
|---|---|
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Penguin Group (Australia) |
Publication date | 1995 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 286 (Penguin, 1996) |
| ISBN | 9-7-8014025784-7 |
"Holding the Man" refers to a rule in Australian Rules Football where a defensive player is awarded a free kick for being tackled while not being in possession of the ball. Caleo, Conigrave's lover, was captain of the school football team.
Holding the Man was published in February 1995 by Penguin Books in Australia just a few months after Conigrave's death, and has since been published in Spain and North America.