American Literature Web Resources: Audre Lorde

Chronology:
 
 

1924	born Audrey Geraldine Lorde on February 18 in Harlem to parents of West Indian descent
1936	began writing poetry around age 12 or 13
1954	attended National University of Mexico for 1 year
1959	received a BA in literature and philosophy from Hunter college
1961	received a Masters in Library Science from Columbia University began work as a librarian at Mount Vernon Public Library -- until 1963.
1962	married Edward Rollins, with whom she had two children – Elizabeth and Jonathan
1966	worked at Town School Library -- until 1968
1968	received National Endowment for the Arts grant poet-in-residence at Tougaloo College in Mississippi for 1 year, during which she met Frances Clayton, the woman she shared the rest of her life with The First Cities, her first volume of poetry, published
1970	divorced from Edward Rollins Cables To Rage (poetry) published
1972	received a Creative Artists Public Service grant
1973	From A Land Where Other People Live (poetry) published
1974	New York Head Shot and Museum (poetry) published From A Land Where Other People Live nominated for a National Book Award, up against Alice Walker and Adrienne Rich, who won
1975	awarded Broadside Poets Award – Detroit awarded Woman of the Year – Staten Island Community College
1976	Coal (poetry) published -- her first work published by a major publisher Between Ourselves (poetry) published
1978	The Black Unicorn: Poems published Uses Of The Erotic: The Erotic As Power (prose) published
1979	featured speaker at first national march for gay and lesbian liberation in Washington, DC became professor of English at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City – until 1981
1980	Chosen Poems, Old and New published The Cancer Journals (prose) published, chronicling her battle with breast cancer
1981	became professor or English at Hunter College – until 1987
1982	Zami, A New Spelling Of My Name (prose) published
1984	Sister Outsider: Essays And Speeches published
1985	I Am Your Sister: Black Women Organizing Across Sexualities (prose) published
1986	Our Dead Behind Us: Poems published
1987	awarded Borough of Manhattan President’s Award for literary excellence named Thomas Hunter Professor – Hunter College
1988	A Burst of Light: Essays published
1989	helped organize hurricane relief for St. Croix after Hurricane Hugo
1990	Need: A Chorale For Black Women Voices (poetry) published
1991	awarded Walt Whitman Citation of Merit by New York State Writers Institute – poet laureate of New York -- until 1993
1992	Undersong: Chosen Poems Old And New published died of breast cancer on November 17 in St. Croix, Virgin Islands
1993	The Marvelous Arithmetics Of Distance: Poems 1987-1992 published

 

Also...
 

• Audre Lorde described herself as a “Black, feminist, lesbian poet.”
• She was the third daughter.
• Her father worked in real estate.
• Her mother did not teach her about racism.
• Her parents always talked about returning to the West Indies.
• All of her life, she had an interest in naming.  She changed the spelling of her name, dropping the “y,” which, as a young child, she didn’t like because its tail dropped below the line on her paper.
• Her interests in poetry started at a young age.  As a child, she often responded to questions by reciting verse.
• There is a celebration of blackness throughout her work.  Other themes of importance included: love, politics, difference, and art.
• Honesty was very important to her.  She was honest in her work and in her life.  She wrote and said what she meant.
• Style – She used free verse, and the verse did not have rhyme but was usually very lyrical.  She often broke lines where a natural pause would exist in speech.
• She was the co-founder of Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press and Sisters for the Support of Sisters in South Africa.

Some Online Resources:
 

New York State Writers Institute – Audre Lorde: http://www.albany.edu/tree-tops/docs.writers-inst/lorde.html
Tom Sullivan’s Essay File on Audre Lorde: http://www.lambda.net/~maximum/lorde.html
Audre Lorde: http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/Bahri/RYAN.HTML
Audre Lorde – links: http://ucl.broward.cc.fl.us/writers/lorde.htm
Audre Lorde – web searches: http://www.plgrm.com/history/women/L/Audre_Geraldin_Lorde.HTM
Writing and Resistance – Audre Lorde: http://www.public.asu.edu/~metro/aflit/lorde/index.html
Audre Lorde Bibliography: http://www-lib.usc.edu/~retter/pitaudre.html
 
 

Other Resources:
 

Lorde, Audre.  Sister Outsider.  Freedom, CA: The Crossing Press, 1984.
Magill, Frank N., ed.  Masterpieces of African-American Literature.  Harper Collins, 1992.
Pryse, Marjorie and Hortense J. Spillers, eds.  Conjuring: Black Women, Fiction, and Literary
    Tradition.  Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1985.