Biography

MARK S. KING is an award winning writer and HIV/AIDS activist who has been involved in gay causes since the early 1980’s. After graduating the University of Houston, King pursued an acting career in Los Angeles and appeared in dozens of television commercials hawking fast food and soft drinks. During this time he also opened Telerotic, which became one of the largest gay telephone fantasy services in the country. King sold the company in 1986 as AIDS was beginning its devastation of the gay community. It is this period of time that King brings back to life in his new memoir, A Place Like This.

King began working for community AIDS agencies in 1984 as a volunteer, and joined the staff of the Los Angeles Shanti Foundation in 1988, becoming their first Director of Public Relations. In 1993 he moved to Atlanta to serve as executive Director of AIDS Survival Project, and later as Director of Education and Communications for AID Atlanta, the southeast’s largest AIDS service agency.

During his tenure at AID Atlanta King began producing columns and essays on HIV and gay life in general, and became a sought-after speaker for public forums and conferences. He also created Reconstruction in 1996, a program designed to address the practical and emotional concerns of renewed health among people living with AIDS. The program was reproduced throughout the world and led to a presentation at the 1998 International AIDS Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.

King has appeared as a regular spokesperson on ABC News, 48 Hours, CNN News and in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. His award-winning writing has been featured in The Advocate, The Washington Blade, and on TheBody.com web site. King has been honored for his writing numerous times, most recently winning the 2007 National Lesbian and Gay Journalism Association award for best opinion piece of the year, for his essay “When We Were Heroes,” about the early days of the AIDS epidemic.

In 2007 King was featured in the award-winning documentary Meth as a crystal methamphetamine addict in recovery.

Today, Mark King lives in Atlanta and continues his writing. He is currently working on a novel about the effects of crystal meth on a group of gay friends.