Donald Rawley; Award-Winning Fiction Writer, Poet

Donald Rawley, an award-winning writer whose first novel is due out this summer, died Sunday at his Sherman Oaks home of complications from AIDS, a publicist said.

Rawley, who was 40, died at 4 a.m., said Allan Mayer, a publicist and longtime friend.

After a self-described “horrible” childhood in Arizona, Rawley studied acting in London and moved to Los Angeles in 1979.

He published his first two poetry collections--”Mecca” and “Malibu Stories”--in 1991, followed by three more books of poetry.

His stories, poems and articles appeared in numerous magazines. One of his stories--”The Secret Names of Whores”--won the Pushcart Prize in 1995.

His novel “The Nightbird Cantata” will be published in July by Avon Books.

He is survived by his longtime companion John Leigh Spath, his mother Ginger Rawley and father Leonard Vyskocil.