There she would publish her second volume of poetry entitled Cables to Rage (1970), which took on themes of love, deceit and family, and which also addressed her own sexuality in the poem, 'Martha.' She would later teach at John Jay College and Hunter College in New York. Also in 1968, Lorde taught a poetry workshop at Tougaloo College in Mississippi, witnessing first-hand the deep racial tensions in the South.

Her first volume of poetry, First Cities, was published, and, that same year, she left her job as a head librarian at Town School Library in New York City. Lorde's life changed dramatically in 1968. The couple had two children, Elizabeth and Jonathan, and later divorced. She married attorney Edwin Rollins in 1962. After graduating in 1959, she went on to get a master’s degree in library science from Columbia University in 1961.įor most of the 1960s, Lorde worked as a librarian in Mount Vernon, New York, and in New York City. She attended Hunter College, working to support herself through school. Lorde's love of poetry started at a young age, and she began writing as a teenager. Early LifeĪudre Geraldine Lorde was born on February 18, 1934, in New York City, and went on to become a leading African American poet and essayist who gave voice to issues of race, gender and sexuality. Lorde also wrote the memoirs The Cancer Journals (1980) and A Burst of Light (1988). More successful collections followed, including From a Land Where Other People Live (1973) and The Black Unicorn (1978).

Audre Lorde attended Hunter College and Columbia University and was a librarian for several years before publishing her first volume of poetry, First Cities, in 1968.

Audre lorde the black unicorn poems