
Audre Lorde
poet
Considered mute and legally blind until age 5, Audre Lorde began reciting poems to express herself. She published her first poem at 17, went on to win numerous distinguished honors and became a major voice in 20th-century poetry, civil rights and feminism.
A self-declared “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet,” Audre translated her lifelong feeling of being an outsider into powerful poems + essays on the complexities of oppression. Before losing a long battle with cancer in 1992, Audre published 17 books. Her powerful words still spur scores of writers, thinkers and activists around the world to keep breaking the silence.
provocative poetry + prose | passionate, inspiring writing about subjects ranging from social justice, identity, oppression and her battles with cancer to love, sexuality and parenting
shaping feminism | criticized "second-wave" feminism's inattention to race and class and was a central voice in developing intersectional feminism ~ a theory + practice that accounts for differences around age, race, class and sexuality
combating oppression + intolerance | expressed her outrage through speeches + writing and was an active social justice warrior, speaking against sexism, racism and homophobia all over the world
1968 | received a National Endowment for the Arts Grant to became a poet in residence at Tougaloo College and taught her first creative writing course ~ an experience that convinced her she wanted to teach and work with poetry in new ways
1980 | co-founded with Barbara Smith, Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, the first U.S. feminist press created by and for women of color
1991 | awarded the Walt Whitman Citation of Merit as Poet-Laureate of New York State ~ her acceptance speech criticized national politics and received a standing ovation
from | to
nurse's aid, factory worker + librarian | one of the most influential voices in liberation movements + feminism
born on
February 18, 1934
born in
New York City, New York
birth name
Audrey Geraldine Lorde
nickname | also known as
Audre
citizen of
The United States of America
daughter of
Linda Belmar Lorde + Frederic Byron Lorde
~ Grenadian immigrants ~
sister of
Helen + Phyllis Lorde
Marjorie + Mavis Jones {half-sisters}
grew up in
Harlem, New York City
educated at
Hunter College
~ New York City | B.A. in Literature + Philosophy | 1959 ~
Columbia University
~ New York City | Master's Degree in Library Science | 1961 ~
loved studying
Poetry, Literature, Philosophy, and ways of accessing information that would help effect social change
divorced from
Edwin Ashley Rollins
~ 1962 - 1970 ~
partner of
Frances Clayton
~ 1970 - 1987 ~
Dr. Gloria I. Joseph
~ 1988 - 1992 ~
mother of
Elizabeth Lorde Rollins + Jonathan Rollins
advocate for
Black women writers
transforming silence into language and action
working together against oppression while acknowledging differences around age, race, class + sexuality
influenced by | worked alongside
Alice Walker
Adrienne Rich
Diane Di Prima, a close friend since high school
died
November 17, 1992
~ Christiansted, St. Croix, Virgin Islands ~
image credits
Elsa Dorfman | Wikimedia Commons | CC ASA 3.0
K. Kendall | Flickr | CC A 2.0
collapse bio bits"Poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence."
Poetry is Not a Luxury | january 1977
"I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood."
The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action {as reprinted in Counterbalance} | december 1977
"What I most regretted were my silences. Of what had I ever been afraid?"
The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action {as reprinted in Counterbalance} | december 1977
"My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you."
The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action {as reprinted in Counterbalance} | december 1977
"It is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence. And there are so many silences to be broken."
The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action {as reprinted in Counterbalance} | december 1977
"Only by learning to live in harmony with your contradictions can you keep it all afloat."
Denver Quarterly | october 1978
"The love expressed between women is particular and powerful."
My Words Will Be There | january 1979
"I give the most strength to my children by being willing to look within myself, and by being honest with them about what I find there."
Man Child: A Black Lesbian Feminist’s Response | january 1979
"Without community there is no liberation…but community must not mean a shedding of our differences."
The Master’s Tools {as printed in Sister Outsider} | september 1979
"Divide and conquer must become define and empower."
The Master’s Tools {as printed in Sister Outsider} | september 1979
"The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house."
The Master’s Tools {as printed in Sister Outsider} | september 1979
"Prosthesis offers the empty comfort of ‘Nobody will know the difference.’ But it is that very difference which I wish to affirm, because I have lived it, and survived it, and wish to share that strength with other women."
The Cancer Journals | january 1980
"I do not have to win in order to know my dreams are valid, I only have to believe in a process of which I am a part."
The Cancer Journals {verified in print} | january 1980
"When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less important whether or not I am unafraid."
The Cancer Journals {verified in print} | august 1980
"There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not lead single-issue lives…Our struggles are particular, but we are not alone."
Learning from the 60s | february 1982
"If our history has taught us anything, it is that action for change directed against the external conditions of our oppressions is not enough. In order to be whole, we must recognize the despair oppression plants within each of us."
Learning from the 60s | february 1982
"Change is the immediate responsibility of each of us, wherever and however we are standing, in whatever arena we choose."
Learning from the 60s | february 1982
"We must recognize and nurture the creative parts of each other without always understanding what will be created."
Eye to Eye | january 1983
"No matter how difficult it may be to look at the realities of our lives, it is there that we will find the strength to change them."
I Am Your Sister | january 1985
"Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare."
A Burst of Light | march 1988
"We do not need to become each other in order to work together."
Commencement Address: Oberlin College {as reprinted in I am Your Sister} | may 1989
for further reading about Audre Lorde:
curated with care by Kristen M. Fallica {january 2015}
Seventeen magazine cover, April 1951
Audre wrote furiously throughout her teenage years and was editor of the school newspaper at Hunter College High School. 1951 was a big year for Audre. She moved away from home after graduation and became self-supporting as a nurse's aide at Bellevue Hospital. Her first published poem ~ a love poem ~ appeared in Seventeen magazine when she was 17 herself! That same year, she met Langston Hughes through meetings of the Harlem Writers' Guild. Later she joked that she made more money from that one early publication in Seventeen than she made for the next 10 years!
Brianna Ordonez
"The Edge of Each Others Battles: The Vision of Audre Lorde"
In 1979, Audre was a featured speaker at the first National March for Gay and Lesbian Liberation in Washington, D.C. A major part of Audre's legacy involves her powerful public speaking, which is featured in this documentary by Jennifer Abod.
Jennifer Abod
Audre Lorde, Meridel Lesueur, Adrienne Rich 1980
These three poetic powerhouses ~ Audre Lorde, Meridel Lesueur, Adrienne Rich ~ taught a writer's workshop together in Austin, Texas. In 1974, Audre was a National Book Award nominee for poetry, which Rich ended up winning. Rich read a statement prepared with Audre and fellow nominee Alice Walker, accepting the prize on behalf of all "unheard women." Rich's deep and wide-ranging interview with Audre from 1979 can be read in the volume Conversations with Audre Lorde (University Press of Mississippi, 2004).
K. Kendall | CC BY 2.0
Zami: A New Spelling of My Name - A Biomythography
Audre's autobiographical work combines elements of myth, memory, history, and biography in a beautifully absorbing form. "Zami" is a Caribbean Carriacou name for "women who work together as friends and lovers."
Crossing Press
A Litany For Survival: the Life and Work of Audre Lorde - Trailer - TWN
In 1987 on St. Croix, a place that was dear to her and where she later passed away, Audre took the African name Gambda Adisa, which means “Warrior: She Who Makes Her Meaning Known.” Several films have been made about Audre, but A Litany For Survival by Ada Gay Griffin and Michelle Parkerson sheds light on a huge trajectory of Audre's literary and activist work, and features numerous interviews with Audre from various stages of her life and career.
Standard Youtube License | Third World Newsreel