Check here for updates on reviews, publications, readings, and author appearances. To invite Michael to a book group or conference or another event, please use the form on the Contact page.

Events

March 4, 2020, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Reading: March 4, 2020, 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Michael and novelist Daniel Jaffe (Yeled Tov) will read their work at the Gallery of the Stonewall Museum and Archive, 2157 Wilton Drive, Wilton Manors, followed by an interview led by author Gregg Shapiro. 
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March 27-29, 2020, New Orleans, LA

Festival: Friday, March 27, t0 Sunday, March 29, New Orleans, Louisiana, at the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival. Michael will moderate a panel on memoir; details to come.

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​News

• Michael's story "Life and the Theater" was a finalist in the 11th annual Saints and Sinners Literary Festival short fiction contest and will appear in New Fiction from the Festival 2020  (February 10, 2020) 
• Michael's story "Omaha" was a runner-up in the 10th annual Saints and Sinners Literary Festival short fiction contest and appears in New Fiction from the Festival 2019  (March 11, 2019) 
• The Sea Is Quiet Tonight won an honorable mention in the competition for the 2017 North Street Book Prize (February 15, 2018)

• In Art & Understanding magazine, John Francis Leonard praises The Sea Is Quiet Tonight as "a portrait of a life and love" rendered in "spare, but elegant, prose" (July 14, 2017)
• Michael was interviewed by Candy Hammond for her Arts Week program on WOMR in Pro​vincetown (July 6, 2017)
• In the Gay & Lesbian Review, Andrew Holleran wrote, "What distinguishes The Sea Is Quiet Tonight is not only that it’s an AIDS memoir, but that it’s also a story of falling in love . . . and the long, hard struggle to meld two separate lives together." (June 29, 2017)

• The Sea Is Quiet Tonight won the 2016 Foreword INDIES Honorable Mention Award for Autobiography & Memoir (June 24, 2017)
• The Sea Is Quiet Tonight is named a "summer reading pick" by WBUR's The ARTery (June 21, 2017)
• The Sea Is Quiet Tonight is named a "best summer read" by POZ Magazine (May 15, 2017)

• "The Early Years of the AIDS Epidemic," an interview with Michael on Wisconsin Public Radio (May 15, 2017)
• "Sea of Love: An Interview with Writer Michael H. Ward," an interview with Michael in Wisconsin Gazette (May 11, 2017)
• The Sea Is Quiet Tonight is named a 2016 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award Finalist (March 15, 2017)

• Kirkus Reviews names The Sea Is Quiet Tonight one of its Best Books of 2016 (December 31, 2016)

• "Remembering Boston's Early AIDS Epidemic Through Love and Loss," an interview with Michael on WBUR's Radio Boston (December 20, 2017)

• The Sea Is Quiet Tonight is named an "outstanding title" of 2016 by the Bay Area Reporter (December 15, 2016)

• Publishers Weekly calls The Sea Is Quiet Tonight "a courageous and necessary addition to the canon of AIDS literature" (December 5, 2016)
• "What Might Have Been," book review in Bay Windows (December 1, 2016)
• "Editor and Author in Conversation: Don Weise and Michael Ward on the Early Years of the AIDS Epidemic," an interview with Michael in Lambda Literary (November 30, 2016) 
• "Coming to Terms with AIDS Death, 30 Years On," an interview with Michael in the Boston Globe (November 27, 2016)
• "A Story of Love and Loss in the Early Days of the AIDS Epidemic," an interview with Michael on WCAI's award-winning public affairs program "The Point" (November 17, 2016)

• "Chatham Author Recounts the Devastation of AIDS," an interview with Michael in the Cape Cod Chronicle (November 9, 2016)

• "The Dancing Bear," an excerpt from The Sea Is Quiet Tonight, in Chelsea Station magazine (October 18, 2016)

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Past Events

December 1, Boston, MA

Reading: Sunday, December 1, 2019, 12:00, at the Cyclorama at Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St. Michael read from The Sea Is Quiet Tonight as part of the annual Day With(Out) Art event in observation of World AIDS Day.
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​March 29 to 31, New Orleans, LA

Festival: Friday, March 29, to Sunday, March 31, 2019, the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival. Michael moderated the panel “Writing the Spiritual Life."
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March 23 to 25, New Orleans, LA

Festival: Friday, March 23, to Sunday, March 25, 2018, the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival. Michael read as part of the "Writers Read" series and moderated the panel "To Tell The Truth: Makings of a Great Memoir." 
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December 1, Brookline, MA

Reading: Friday, December 1, 2017, 7:30 p.m., at Temple Sinai's 14th annual Rainbow Shabbat, 50 Sewall Ave.
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September 26, New York, NY

Reading: Tuesday, September 26, 2017, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., at the Jefferson Market Library, 425 Avenue of the Americas.
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September 19, San Francisco, CA

Reading: Tuesday, September 19, 2017, 6:30 p.m., at the San Francisco Public Library, 100 Larkin St., in conjunction with the James Hormel LGBTQIA Center and the San Francisco GLBT Historical Society.
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August 30, Provincetown, MA

Reading: Wednesday, August 30, 2017, 6:00 p.m., at East End Books Ptown, 389 Commercial St., with Dermot Meagher (Provincetown Drawings).
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August 4-6, Washington, DC

Book fair: Friday, August 4, to Sunday, August 6, 2017, at the annual OutWrite LGBT Book Festival. 

July 13, Provincetown, MA

Reading: Thursday, July 13, 2017, 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., at the Provincetown Public Library, 356 Commercial St., with Deborah Swiss (The Tin Ticket).

May 22, Boston, MA

Presentation: Monday, May 22, 2017, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., at The History Project, 29 Stanhope Street.
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May 17-19, Willard, WI

Workshop: Wednesday, May 17, to Friday, May 19, 2017. Michael co-led a three-day exploration, "Writing Our Way to Spiritual Realization," with Rosanne Annoni at the Christine Center. 

May 16, Madison, WI

Reading: Tuesday, May 16, 2017, 6:00 p.m., at A Room of One’s Own Bookstore, 315 W. Gorham St.
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May 15, Milwaukee, WI

Reading: Monday, May 15, 2017, 7:00 p.m., at Outwords Books, 2710 N. Murray Ave.
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May 9, Chatham, MA

Reading: Tuesday, May 9, 2017, 7:00 p.m., at the Eldredge Public Library, 564 Main St.
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April 29, New York, NY

Book fair: Saturday, April 29, 2017, the annual Rainbow Book Fair.

March 24-26, New Orleans, LA

Festival: Friday, March 24, to Sunday, March 26, 2017, the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival. In addition to reading and signing books, Michael presented on a memoir panel. He was a finalist for the Rob Byrnes Emerging Writer Award.
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February 9, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Reading: Thursday, February 9, 2017, 7:00 p.m., at the Gallery of the Stonewall Museum and Archive, 2157 Wilton Drive, Wilton Manors.

December 1, Brookline, MA

Reading: Thursday, December 1, 2016, 7:00 p.m., at Brookline Booksmith.
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December 1, Boston, MA

Reading: Thursday, December 1, 2016, 1:00 p.m., at the Cyclorama at Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St. Michael's appearance was part of the annual Medicine Wheel art event in observation of World AIDS Day. 
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November 15, Orleans, MA

Reading: Tuesday, November 15, 2016, 6:00 p.m., at the Snow Library, 67 Main St.
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November 7, Omaha, NE

Reading: Monday, November 7, 2016, 7:00 p.m., at the Bookworm Bookstore. 
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November 4, Des Moines, IA

Reading: Friday, November 4, 2016, 6:30 p.m., at Beaverdale Books, 2629 Beaver Ave.
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