Christopher Cox (August 27, 1949 – September 7, 1990,

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

, New York City) was an American writer. His birth name was Ray Cox Jr.

Biography

Christopher Cox was born in Gadsden, Alabama. At 16, he worked for conservative Senator John Sparkman as a page, but would later found a local chapter of Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Alabama. In the 1970s, he moved to Manhattan and pursued a career with the ''

SoHo Weekly News The ''SoHo Weekly News'' (also called the ''SoHo News'') was a weekly alternative newspaper published in New York City from 1973 to 1982. The paper was founded in 1973 by Michael Goldstein (1938–2018). History The first issue was published on ...

'' as both a writer and photographer. Cox, who was gay, is perhaps best known for his collaboration within

The Violet Quill The Violet Quill (or the Violet Quill Club) was a group of seven gay male writers that met in 1980 and 1981 in New York City to read from their writings to each other and to critique them. This group and the writers epitomize the years between the ...

. He later went on to become senior editor of

Ballantine Books Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998 and remain ...

.Christopher Cox; Editor, 41
/ref> He appeared in

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's ''

Two Gentlemen of Verona ''The Two Gentlemen of Verona'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1589 and 1593. It is considered by some to be Shakespeare's first play, and is often seen as showing his first tentative steps in laying ...

'', and later directed several plays at the Jean Cocteau Theater, New York City. He died of an AIDS-related infection in 1990. His partner,

William Olander William "Bill" R. Olander (July 14, 1950 – March 18, 1989) was an American senior curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City. He previously worked as curator and director of the Allen Memorial Art Museum. He was a co-founder o ...

, had died of the same disease in 1989.

Works

*''A Key West Companion'', 1983 *''Aunt Persian and the Jesus Man'', assembled and edited by David Bergman in 1994

References

1949 births 1990 deaths American gay writers AIDS-related deaths in New York (state) 20th-century American LGBT people {{US-editor-stub