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I was born in New York, on February 18, 1934. I am the youngest out of three sisters, and at an early age I found a love for poetry and the love only continued to grow. My name started off as Audrey but my young, poetic mind decided it was better if it was just Audre. #YoungAndTurnt #Poetic #NaturalTalent

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audre_Lorde

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My family originates from the Caribbean island of Grenada. My dad is Frederick Byron Lorde and my beautiful mother is Linda Belmar Lorde. I married Edwin Rollins, a white man, and we had 2 children together before we divorced in 1970. My kids names are Jonathan and Elizabeth Lorde-Rollins, and I love them very much! #MyKidsHaveGreatGenes #LGBTQ #LoveIsInfinite

https://wams.nyhistory.org/end-of-the-twentieth-century/a-conservative-turn/audre-lorde/

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I value my education dearly, it is where I first learned how to use my words and turn them into something powerful. I went to both Hunter Highschool and Hunter College and studied literature. I earned a masters in Library Science from Columbia University and brought my poetry to the next level. #WomenInMenFields #Intelligent #Educated

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/audre-lorde

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Back in my day, I was a professor of English, back in John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Hunter College. Additionally to being a professor, I was a poet and a librarian, and taught others the power that words hold. I lived to inspire others and create academic weapons. #AcademicWeapon #Teacher #WordsHoldPower

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/audre-lorde

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Lorde connected with poetry from a young age. She once commented, "I used to speak in poetry...when I couldn't find the poems to express the things I was feeling, that's what started me writing poetry." She was around 12 or 13 at the time. She graduated from Hunter High School, where she edited the literary magazine. After an English teacher rejected one of her poems, Lorde submitted it to Seventeen magazine - it became her first professional publication.

During the 1960s, Lorde began publishing her poetry in magazines and anthologies, and also took part in the civil rights, antiwar, and women's liberation movements. Lorde published her first volume of poems, The First Cities, in 1968. That same year, she earned a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and became the writer-in-residence at Tougaloo College, a historically Black college in Mississippi. There, she discovered her love of teaching and met Frances Clayton, a professor of psychology and her partner until 1989.

Lorde's work was already notable for her strong expressions of African American identity, but her second anthology, Cables to Rage (1970), took on more overtly political themes, such as racism, sexism, and violence. It also included "Martha," a poem that acknowledged her lesbianism. Her third collection, From a Land Where Other People Live (1973), was a finalist for a National Book Award for Poetry. Lorde's work is characterized by its emphasis on matters of social and racial justice, as well as its authentic portrayal of queer sexuality and experience.

Lorde continued writing prolifically through the 1970s and 1980s, exploring the intersections of race, gender, and class, as well as examining her own identity within a global context. Her 1978 collection, The Black Unicorn, was inspired by a trip to Benin with her children. In it, she drew strength from a spiritual connection with the goddesses of African mythology. In 1982, Lorde released what she coined a "biomythography": Zami: A New Spelling of My Name. Combining elements of history, biography, and myth, it told of Lorde's journey of self-discovery and acceptance as a Black lesbian in her childhood and young adult years. Lorde's 1984 collection, Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches, included her canonical essay, "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House," which called on feminists to acknowledge the many differences among women and to utilize them as a source of power rather than one of division.

Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1977, Lorde found that the ordeals of cancer treatment and mastectomy were shrouded in silence for women, and found them even further isolating as a Black lesbian woman. Lorde felt that the narratives of coping and healing she did encounter were designed solely for white, heterosexual women. In an effort to combat this silence and to foster connection with other lesbians and women of color facing the same struggle, Lorde offered a raw portrait of her own pain, suffering, reflection, and hope in The Cancer Journals (1980). The book won the American Library Association's Gay Caucus Book of the Year Award for 1981 and became a classic work of illness narrative.

Lorde was a professor of English at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Hunter College. She received many honors throughout her career including the 1990 Bill Whitehead Memorial Award and the 1991 Walt Whitman Citation of Merit, making her the Poet Laureate of the State of New York for 1991-1992. Her 1988 prose collection A Burst of Light won a Before Columbus Foundation National Book Award. Lorde earned honorary doctorates from Hunter College, Oberlin College, and Haverford College. In 2001, the Publishing Triangle association instituted the Audre Lorde Award for distinguished works of lesbian poetry. Lorde was posthumously elected to the American Poets Corner at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City in 2020.

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Poet and author Audre Lorde used her writing to shine light on her experience of the world as a Black lesbian woman and later, as a mother and person suffering from cancer. A prominent member of the women's and LGBTQ rights movements, her writings called attention to the multifaceted nature of identity and the ways in which people from different walks of life could grow stronger together.

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A very meaningful accomplishment to me was publishing The Cancer Journals. I wrote about my battle with breast Cancer and turned it into something enjoyable to read. I think that everyone should be able to hear my struggles and know they are not going through it alone. Especially as a black woman, it is important to stick together. #YouAreNotAlone #Strong #BlackPride

https://nmaahc.si.edu/search?keyword=

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Another accomplishment I am super proud of was co-founding Kitchen Table. Kitchen Table is a women of color press, it is a safe space where women of color can tell their own stories. Our voices are not to be silenced, they are to be empowered. #CanNotBeSilenced #Empowering #Color

https://wams.nyhistory.org/end-of-the-twentieth-century/a-conservative-turn/audre-lorde/

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I know I impacted lots of little girls to get into poetry and help decide what they want to do in life. I inspired others to speak their truths and fight for what is right. I inspired others through my poetry, activism, and teaching. I am an inspiring woman who left an impact on many people. Like I always say "Your silence will not protect you." #Impact #Inspiring #LesbianAndProud

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/18486.Audre_Lorde

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I hope my legacy is something people continue to bring up, something that people look up to, and something that inspires others. My words and work helped others to find who they really are and that is something I am truly proud of. My legacy WILL continue to carry on, through black women and anyone who supports me. #CarryOnTheLegacy #WomenOfColor #LoveMySupporters

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/audre-lorde