Lorde, Audre

Impact on the world

Built a body of poetry and essays that gave early, influential voice to the intersection of Black identity, feminism, and lesbian sexuality, work she described through her own self-identification as 'black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet'; her 1980 memoir 'The Cancer Journals' offered one of the first widely read feminist critiques of the medical profession's treatment of breast cancer patients, and her 1988 essay collection 'A Burst of Light' won a National Book Award.

Life & background

Born in New York City to Grenadian immigrant parents, Lorde began writing poetry as a teenager, publishing her first poem in Seventeen magazine, and went on to earn a master's degree in library science from Columbia University while working as a librarian. Her 1968 debut poetry collection 'The First Cities' was followed by 'Cables to Rage' (1970), which contained the first poetic expression of her sexuality, and 1976's 'Coal,' her first release with a major publisher, which brought her broader critical attention; many critics consider 1978's 'The Black Unicorn,' exploring her relationship to Africa and her roles as mother and daughter, to be her finest work. Diagnosed with breast cancer, she documented her mastectomy and refusal to be victimized by the disease in 'The Cancer Journals' (1980), a foundational feminist critique of medical treatment of cancer patients, and continued writing through a 14-year battle with the disease, ultimately choosing alternative treatment after it spread to her liver. In 1980 she co-founded Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press with writer and activist Barbara Smith, and her 1988 essay collection 'A Burst of Light' won a National Book Award. She spent her final years in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where she took the African name Gamba Adisa, meaning 'she who makes her meaning clear.'

Sources

1. Poetry Foundation; Academy of American Poets; Encyclopædia Britannica