Martha Wood: 313-580-5561
Felix Sirls: 313-330-8466
AIDS Awareness Activist and Poet publishes first fiction novel
Detroiter, AIDS/HIV activist, and poet Felix Sirls releases fiction novel, Switch and Sway, during the month of World AIDS Day. Although not his first published work, the novel, Switch and Sway, is his first fiction novel. The 60-year-old activist has lived with HIV/AIDS since the beginning of the diagnoses in the early 1980s. Sirls even died and was revived as he struggled to find proper healthcare for the infection in the early years.
Having lived life as a pimp, a poet, a dealer, a nurse who worked with some of the original AIDS cases, and currently a facilitator for Detroit Health Department in the JEMADARI Program under the Early Intervention and Prevention Programs, Sirls has a unique perspective on this story. He is on several boards that deal with the AIDS community including, MHAC, SEMHAC, the PWC, Michigan PWA TASK FORCE, Project Hope, Michigan Rehab Council & Community outreach workers.
Sirls' new novel is not without inspiration from others. "I took little bits from different people I've known over the years," Sirls said of the characters in his book.
For instance, his wife Paula Sirls is included in the story.
Her history is used as the backdrop for one of the main characters, Martha Brie. InSwitch and Sway, Martha Brie learns that her husband has HIV, and the manner in which he tells her he is infected is similar to Paula's true life history with a former long-time love interest, the man who infected her, and later died from the virus in the 1990s.
Switch and Sway is a fictional story about the devastation that HIV can wreak in lives and relationships. But the story also reveals the emotional strength and personal victories that can be found when faced with the difficulties of living with the disease.
Following is the synopsis of the story:
Best friends Martha Brie and Ezel come to a breaking point when disease overtakes both women in different ways. As they meet at a crossroads, a twist propels them down new paths. Each woman finds that her own journey will take a turn that might have been previously foreseen for the other. In Switch and Sway, two friends find out that lies can destroy love- and at the same time, truth can heal old wounds. As Martha Brie learns that her husband Lamar has HIV, Ezel simultaneously confronts the infection that she has been hiding from her husband Marcus. Their lives will never be the same as both women watch their marriages fall apart. As truths are revealed, lives are rebuilt from the shattered pieces and the women's stories are renewed as they find strength inside weakness.
Felix Sirls' new novel is just one way that he is reaching out to the AIDS community.
He and his wife hold speaking engagements on the topic of living with the HIV/AIDS all over Michigan and surrounding states. They are inspirational and effective speakers who also hold a weekly support group for infected Detroiters. Felix and Paula conduct speaking engagements in churches across the state of Michigan to promote AIDS awareness in the Black community. They also facilitate group retreats and workshops for people living with HIV/AIDS and their families.
Along with spreading awareness and focusing on prevention, Felix Sirls hopes to reduce the stigma for those who do have the infection.
With his first fiction novel, Sirls said, "I wanted to humanize the face of AIDS and HIV. In Switch and Sway, these are real people, with so-called normal lives and they deal with the infection in different ways."
Sirls said he tires of hearing the stereotypes about the virus.
"I want to reduce the stigma that HIV is a homosexual disease."
Visit www.felixsirls.com for samples of his other works including poetry and music. Switch and Sway can be purchased for $14.95 on www.felixsirls.com , www.amazon.com or www.niyogroup.com .
