In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of poet and author Audre Lorde. Born in New York City in 1934, Lorde was the daughter of immigrants and had a love for poetry from an early age. She would go on to publish many collections of poetry, essays, and speeches that continue to have relevance today.
Quoting from the Poetry Foundation, “A self-described ‘Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet,’ Audre Lorde dedicated both her life and her creative talent to confronting and addressing injustices of racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia.” And quoting from the Audre Lorde Project, “Both her activism and her published work speak to the importance of struggle for liberation among oppressed peoples and of organizing in coalition across differences of race, gender, sexual orientation, class, age and ability.”
For this episode, we are joined by writer R. O. Kwon, author of the just-released novel Exhibit, who cites Lorde as a major influence.
In this episode, Kwon mentions the great work that Authors Against Book Bans are doing. Learn more about them and join the fight to stop book bans and censorship.
R. O. is interviewed by Nate King, Digital Content Associate at the American Writers Museum. This conversation originally took place April 23, 2024 and was recorded over Zoom.