Well, today is World Aids Day and I’ve spent part of it thinking of lost friends and the hideous legacy of HIV for millions of people all over the planet. I’m glad to report however, that thanks to Nobel prize winner Nadine Gordimer (pictured), writers have now been able to do their bit to raise money to fight the good fight.

An extremely illustrious group of authors, including five Nobel prize winners, have put together Telling Tales, an anthology of short stories. The book, which includes stories from Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Gabriel García Márquez, Susan Sontag, Woody Allen, John Updike, Arthur Miller, Günter Grass and Hanif Kureishi, was launched at the United Nations headquarters in New York by Kofi Annan yesterday. You can read some excerpts at the end of the story in the Independent (who stole my headline, grr).

Nadine Gordimer (who is 81!) stipulated that none of the stories should be about AIDs, saying that there are enough facts and figures out there.

I wanted these to be beautiful stories celebrating life, which is what people suffering with HIV and Aids are deprived of… I became very conscious of the fact that musicians and singers were having concert performances in aid of Aids and HIV victims, and I thought, 'What are writers doing?'

said Ms Gordimer. So she got on the phone, wrote to her favourite authors and asked for a story. They all agreed, and the publishers waived the royalties. Bless! She wanted something that everyone could buy for a Christmas present so it was decided to publish only in paperback so it would be affordable. All profits will go to Treatment Action Campaign a charity which is doing great work in Southern Africa, the worst-hit region in the world. Nice work, Nadine.

PS Shockingly, if you want to get the book here, it may be a struggle - the Whitcoulls chain have ordered the sum total of 11 ... you may have better luck with Amazon.