Criminalized Lives: HIV & Legal Violence wins POZ Magazine award for best represenation of HIV in literature for 2024. Debuting in 2016, the POZ Awards spotlight the best representations of HIV and AIDS in media and culture. The POZ editorial staff selects the nominees, but POZ readers choose the winners. More info here!
“BEST IN LITERATURE
Criminalized Lives: HIV and Legal Violence by Alexander McClelland
Despite the many advances made in HIV treatment and prevention since the beginning of the AIDS crisis, the legal framework regarding people with HIV lags woefully behind in many cases. Aiming to lay out this harmful legal framework is the work of Criminalized Lives by Carleton University professor Alexander McClelland, who is also a member of the Canadian Coalition to Reform HIV Criminalization. Not only does McClelland dive deep into the ways that Canada’s laws harm people with HIV, he also emphasizes its disproportionate impact on marginalized people, including people of color, indigenous people, LGBTQ people, and people living in poverty. More than just offering McClelland’s views, the book includes personal stories from many people who faced HIV criminalization firsthand.”