Bill Hayes moved to New York at 48. He took up photography, and fell in love with his neighbour, Dr Oliver Sacks

Doctor Oliver Sacks was a neurologist, a naturalist and a university professor. He became famous for writing case histories of his patients in books including, The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat, and An Anthropologist on Mars.

But Oliver had never been in a relationship. Then, at the age of 75, he fell deeply in love with a man decades younger than him.

He and Bill Hayes lived in the same building, in New York, three flights apart.

Their time together ended when Dr Sacks was in his early eighties.

Further information

Insomniac City published by Bloomsbury

This conversation was broadcast from the Sydney Writers’ Festival

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