Armistead Jones Maupin, Jr.[1][2][3] (/ˈmɔːpɪn/ MAW-pin; born May 13, 1944)[4][5] is an American writer notable for Tales of the City, a series of novels set in San Francisco.

[1] His great-great-grandfather, Congressman Lawrence O'Bryan Branch, was from North Carolina and was a railroad executive and a Confederate general during the American Civil War.

Maupin later changed his opinion and condemned Helms at a gay pride parade on the steps of the North Carolina State Capitol.

Tales of the City is a series of novels, the first portions of which were published initially as a newspaper serial starting on August 8, 1974, in a Marin County newspaper, The Pacific Sun, picked up in 1976 by the San Francisco Chronicle, and later reworked into the series of books published by HarperCollins (then Harper and Row).

[22] Dukakis, Linney, and various other cast members from the original series, reunited for the 2019 Tales miniseries on Netflix which was not based directly on one of Maupin's novels but used elements from several, including the latter three.

He collaborated on Anna Madrigal Remembers, a musical work written by Jake Heggie and performed by choir Chanticleer and mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade on August 6, 1999, for which Maupin provided a new libretto.

The musical has a score and lyrics by Jake Shears and John Garden of the rock band Scissor Sisters, and a book by Jeff Whitty.

Maybe The Moon is a story Maupin describes as "partly autobiographical", despite the main character being a female heterosexual Jewish dwarf.

[25][26] The Night Listener is a roman à clef, inspired by Maupin's experiences concerning the Anthony Godby Johnson hoax.

[12] The Night Listener was adapted into a movie that was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in late January 2006 and released by Miramax the following August.

[27] Prior to the 2007 release of Michael Tolliver Lives, Maupin had been quoted on his website as saying that another Tales of the City novel was unlikely.

"[33] The novel is written from the first-person perspective of Tales character Michael 'Mouse' Tolliver, now in his fifties and living as an HIV-positive man.

[9][40][41][19] For 12 years, he was in a relationship with Terry Anderson, a gay rights activist who co-authored the screenplay for The Night Listener.

[20] In 2012, Maupin purchased a home in Tesuque, New Mexico, previously owned by shoe designers Lynne and Dennis Comeau.