(1944– )
a US writer and author of the popular ‘Tales of the City’ series of novels. The first of these, Tales of the City (1978), originally appeared in parts in the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper. Its characters live at 28 Barbary Lane in San Francisco. Like Maupin himself, several of them are homosexual. A British television series based on the novels caused arguments in the US when it was shown on PBS in 1994. Although it had the largest ever audience for a PBS dramatic programme, several cities refused to show it.