Ryan Corr as Tim Conigrave and Craig Stott as John Caleo in Holding the Man. Image supplied.
Published posthumously, Timothy Conigrave’s memoir Holding the Man is a remarkable and passionate tribute to his lover of 15 years, John Caleo, who died of an AIDS-related illness on Australia Day 1992.
Written while Conigrave himself was battling AIDS-induced dementia, the book charts the couple’s at-times tumultuous relationship, from their first meeting as teenagers at Melbourne’s Xavier College, where Caleo was captain of the football team and Conigrave an aspiring actor, through to their final, poignant farewell.
