Audre Geraldine Lorde’s immense and consequential body of work consists of poems, speeches, essays, open letters, interviews, pamphlets, and books. An internationally recognized poet who gave public readings, lectures, and speeches primarily in the United States, she regularly introduced herself as a Black, lesbian, feminist, socialist, poet, and mother. Her synthesis of literary work with political activism could be considered public advocacy in that she endeavored to move her readers’ or listeners’ feelings, beliefs, and actions. Rhetorical in this respect, her work was complex, insightful, and instructive in commenting on racism, sexism, ageism, heterosexism, and other varieties of oftentimes overlapping biases in U.S. culture during the latter half of the twentieth century. In addition to poems mentioned elsewhere in this entry, her poetry may be exemplified by “Coal”, “Blackstudies”, “Afterimages”, “Litany for Survival”, and “Sisters...
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Citation: Olson, Lester C.. "Audre Lorde". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 March 2011; last revised 29 September 2018. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2792, accessed 09 June 2026.]
