Audre Lorde (1934–1992)

Poet and educator, Lorde was also a prominent activist for Black, women’s and gay rights. Her work – often strongly, even painfully confrontational – dealt frequently with her experiences of being a member of all three oppressed groups.

Professionally she helped establish links between African émigrés and descendants across Europe, the USA and South Africa, and founded the Women Of Colour Press.

Her 1973 collection, From a Land Where Other People Live, was nominated for the US National Book Award For Poetry, and her final autobiographical work The Cancer Journals gained (overdue) wide acclaim.

One often repeated quote regarding Civil Rights states liberation is not the private province of any one particular group.