Audre Lorde Biography

Audre Lorde, Poet
Occup.Poet
FromUSA
BornFebruary 18, 1934
New York City, USA
DiedNovember 17, 1992
Saint Croix, Virgin Islands, USA
Aged58 years
Audre Lorde was born in New York City on February 18, 1934, to Caribbean immigrants Frederick Byron Lorde as well as Linda Gertrude Belmar Lorde. She was the youngest of three children in a close-knit household that valued education and learning and the arts. Regardless of a difficult childhood years noted by hardship, racism, as well as a deal with speech, Lorde went on to become one of one of the most popular feminist authors, poets, and protestors of the 20th century.

Lorde participated in Catholic institutions and afterwards Hunter College High School, where she started to develop her writing skills. In 1951, at age 17, her poem "Spring" was published in Seventeen Magazine. She went on to gain a B.A. in English Literature from Hunter College in 1959 and a Master's in Library Science from Columbia University in 1961. Lorde worked as a librarian, teacher, and lecturer at various establishments, including the City University of New York, Tougaloo College, as well as the Free University of Berlin.

Lorde's career as a poet as well as author really took off in 1968 with the publication of her first quantity of poetry, "The First Cities." Her works often checked out themes such as race, sex, and sexuality, and they were taken into consideration groundbreaking for their time. In 1973, Lorde published "From a Land Where Other People Live," a collection of poetry that obtained her wider acknowledgment and an election for the National Book Award.

Lorde was unapologetically lesbian as well as black, making her a pioneer in the feminist motion. She increasingly critiqued the mainstream feminist activity for mainly concentrating on white, middle-class experiences, and also discussed that sexism, racism, and classism were interconnected pressures of fascism. Her ideas contributed to the development of intersectional feminism - a term created later on by scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw.

Audre Lorde's advocacy and writing considerably affected the civil rights, females's rights, and also LGBTQ+ legal rights movements. She worked together with feminists such as Bell Hooks, Adrienne Rich, Gloria AnzaldĂșa, as well as June Jordan. In 1979, Lorde offered a famous speech titled "The Personal is Political: Poetry Is Not a Luxury" at the Modern Language Association seminar in New York City, where she said that verse was an effective tool for females to understand and share their experiences. She additionally co-founded Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press and also Sisterhood on behalf of Sisters in South Africa (SISA), which intended to enhance the connections among black ladies globally.

Lorde was detected with bust cancer cells in 1978 and also narrated her battle with the disease in her 1980 publication, "The Cancer Journals." The diagnosis didn't stop her from proceeding her activism and also writing. In 1984, she released "Sister Outsider," a collection of essays denouncing racism, sexism, and homophobia.

Audre Lorde passed away on November 17, 1992, in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, after a long battle with liver cancer cells. Her life as well as heritage continue to form feminist discussion, and also her contributions to the fight for social justice remain an inspiration to lobbyists as well as writers alike.

Our collection contains 39 quotes who is written / told by Audre.

Related authors: June Jordan (Writer), Bell Hooks (Critic), Barbara Smith (Activist), Adrienne Rich (Poet), Lawrence Taylor (Athlete)

Audre Lorde Famous Works:
Source / external links:

39 Famous quotes by Audre Lorde

Small: Attend me, hold me in your muscular flowering arms, protect me from throwing any part of myself away
"Attend me, hold me in your muscular flowering arms, protect me from throwing any part of myself away"
Small: If I didnt define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other peoples fantasies for me and eaten
"If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive"
Small: It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those
"It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences"
Small: In other words, I would be giving in to a myth of sameness which I think can destroy us
"In other words, I would be giving in to a myth of sameness which I think can destroy us"
Small: Black women sharing close ties with each other, politically or emotionally, are not the enemies of Blac
"Black women sharing close ties with each other, politically or emotionally, are not the enemies of Black men"
Small: Art is not living. It is the use of living
"Art is not living. It is the use of living"
Small: There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt
"There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt"
Small: The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual, forms a bridge between the s
"The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual, forms a bridge between the sharers which can be the basis for understanding much of what is not shared between them, and lessens the threat of their difference"
Small: The learning process is something you can incite, literally incite, like a riot
"The learning process is something you can incite, literally incite, like a riot"
Small: I would like to do another piece of fiction dealing with a number of issues: Lesbian parenting, the 196
"I would like to do another piece of fiction dealing with a number of issues: Lesbian parenting, the 1960's, and interracial relationships in the Lesbian and Gay community"
Small: I cant really define it in sexual terms alone although our sexuality is so energizing why not enjoy it
"I can't really define it in sexual terms alone although our sexuality is so energizing why not enjoy it too?"
Small: I am deliberate and afraid of nothing
"I am deliberate and afraid of nothing"
Small: I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verba
"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"
Small: Black women are programmed to define ourselves within this male attention and to compete with each othe
"Black women are programmed to define ourselves within this male attention and to compete with each other for it rather than to recognize and move upon our common interests"
Small: When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are sti
"When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak"
Small: Only by learning to live in harmony with your contradictions can you keep it all afloat
"Only by learning to live in harmony with your contradictions can you keep it all afloat"
Small: Its possible to take that as a personal metaphor and then multiply it to a people, a race, a sex, a tim
"It's possible to take that as a personal metaphor and then multiply it to a people, a race, a sex, a time. If we can keep this thing going long enough, if we can survive and teach what we know, we'll make it"
Small: When I use my strength in the service of my vision it makes no difference whether or not I am afraid
"When I use my strength in the service of my vision it makes no difference whether or not I am afraid"
Small: Poetry is not only dream and vision it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. It lays the foundatio
"Poetry is not only dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. It lays the foundations for a future of change, a bridge across our fears of what has never been before"
Small: There are lesbians, God knows... if you came up through lesbian circles in the forties and fifties in N
"There are lesbians, God knows... if you came up through lesbian circles in the forties and fifties in New York... who were not feminist and would not call themselves feminists"
Small: The failure of academic feminists to recognize difference as a crucial strength is a failure to reach b
"The failure of academic feminists to recognize difference as a crucial strength is a failure to reach beyond the first patriarchal lesson. In our world, divide and conquer must become define and empower"
Small: In our work and in our living, we must recognize that difference is a reason for celebration and growth
"In our work and in our living, we must recognize that difference is a reason for celebration and growth, rather than a reason for destruction"
Small: I write for those women who do not speak, for those who do not have a voice because they were so terrif
"I write for those women who do not speak, for those who do not have a voice because they were so terrified, because we are taught to respect fear more than ourselves. We've been taught that silence would save us, but it won't"
Small: You know how fighting fish do it? They blow bubbles and in each one of those bubbles is an egg and they
"You know how fighting fish do it? They blow bubbles and in each one of those bubbles is an egg and they float the egg up to the surface. They keep this whole heavy nest of eggs floating, and they're constantly repairing it. It's as if they live in both elements"
Small: When I dare to be powerful - to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and l
"When I dare to be powerful - to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid"
Small: Our visions begin with our desires
"Our visions begin with our desires"
Small: Its a struggle but thats why we exist, so that another generation of Lesbians of color will not have to
"It's a struggle but that's why we exist, so that another generation of Lesbians of color will not have to invent themselves, or their history, all over again"
Small: Each time you love, love as deeply as if it were forever
"Each time you love, love as deeply as if it were forever"
Small: But, on the other hand, I get bored with racism too and recognize that there are still many things to b
"But, on the other hand, I get bored with racism too and recognize that there are still many things to be said about a Black person and a White person loving each other in a racist society"
Small: But the true feminist deals out of a lesbian consciousness whether or not she ever sleeps with women
"But the true feminist deals out of a lesbian consciousness whether or not she ever sleeps with women"
Small: Black writers, of whatever quality, who step outside the pale of what black writers are supposed to wri
"Black writers, of whatever quality, who step outside the pale of what black writers are supposed to write about, or who black writers are supposed to be, are condemned to silences in black literary circles that are as total and as destructive as any imposed by racism"
Small: Part of the lesbian consciousness is an absolute recognition of the erotic within our lives and, taking
"Part of the lesbian consciousness is an absolute recognition of the erotic within our lives and, taking that a step further, dealing with the erotic not only in sexual terms"
Small: In discussions around the hiring and firing of Black faculty at universities, the charge is frequently
"In discussions around the hiring and firing of Black faculty at universities, the charge is frequently heard that Black women are more easily hired than are Black men"
Small: I remember how being young and black and gay and lonely felt. A lot of it was fine, feeling I had the t
"I remember how being young and black and gay and lonely felt. A lot of it was fine, feeling I had the truth and the light and the key, but a lot of it was purely hell"
Small: But the question is a matter of the survival and the teaching. Thats what our work comes down to.
"But the question is a matter of the survival and the teaching. That's what our work comes down to. No matter where we key into it, it's the same work, just different pieces of ourselves doing it"
Small: Your silence will not protect you
"Your silence will not protect you"
Small: The quality of light by which we scrutinize our lives has direct bearing upon the product which we live
"The quality of light by which we scrutinize our lives has direct bearing upon the product which we live, and upon the changes which we hope to bring about through those lives"
Small: The masters tools will never dismantle the masters house
"The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house"
Small: Life is very short and what we have to do must be done in the now
"Life is very short and what we have to do must be done in the now"