Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (Penguin Vitae)

Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (Penguin Vitae)

“ Sister Outsider, a collection of essays and speeches by the pioneering feminist Audre Lorde, is one of my all-time-favorite books . It’s always great to have an intersectional tome on hand.” —Amanda Gorman " Sister Outsider 's teachings, by one of our most revered elder stateswomen, should be read by everyone." — Essence Presenting the essential writings of black lesbian poet and feminist writer Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider celebrates an influential voice in twentieth-century literature, with a foreword by Mahogany L. Browne. A New York Times New & Noteworthy book A Penguin Vitae Edition In this charged collection of fifteen essays and speeches, Lorde takes on sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, and class, and propounds social difference as a vehicle for action and change. Her prose is incisive, unflinching, and lyrical, reflecting struggle but ultimately offering messages of hope. The groundbreaking feminist's timely collection of nonfiction writings on race, gender, and LGBTQ issues is now for the first time in Penguin Classics as part of the Penguin Vitae series, with a foreword by poet Mahogany L. Browne. Penguin Classics launches a new hardcover series with five American classics that are relevant and timeless in their power, and part of a dynamic and diverse landscape of classic fiction and nonfiction from almost seventy-five years of classics publishing. Penguin Vitae provides readers with beautifully designed classics that have shaped the course of their lives, and welcomes new readers to discover these literary gifts of personal inspiration, intellectual engagement, and creative originality. “Lorde, in her life and in her writings, dismantled so many systems that tried to diminish her and her family. She outlines the lessons learned in her seminal text  Sister Outsider , the feminist’s classic tome of 15 essays and speeches, originally published in 1984. The work tackles the junctions of racism, sexism, classism, ageism and sexuality in persuasive reflections, which have stood the test of time. Reissued with a bold new cover and an illuminating foreword by poet Mahogany L. Browne, Lorde’s generational truths still cut deep into the darkened soul of America.  Sister Outsider ’s teachings, by one of our most revered elder stateswomen, should be read by everyone.” –Essence  "An eye-opener" – Publishers Weekly "[ Sister Outsider  is] another indication of the depth of analysis that black women writers are contributing to feminist thought."  – Barbara Christian, PhD, author of  Black Feminist Criticism: Perspectives on Black Women Writers “ Sister Outsider , a collection of essays and speeches by the pioneering feminist Audre Lorde, is one of my all-time-favorite books. It’s always great to have an intersectional tome on hand.” – Amanda Gorman Audre Lorde (1934-1992) published nine volumes of poetry and five works of prose. She was a recipient of many distinguished honors and awards, including honorary doctorates from Hunter, Oberlin, and Haverford Colleges, and was named New York State Poet (1991-1993). Mahogany L. Browne is a Brooklyn-based slam poet and activist, and the author of Black Girl Magic , which she read on PBS NewsHour. She has been featured in HBO's Brave New Voices as the artistic director at Urban Word NYC. Scratching the Surface: Some Notes on Barriers to Women and Loving  Racism:  The belief in the inherent superiority of one race over all others and thereby the right to dominance.  Sexism:  The belief in the inherent superiority of one sex and thereby the right to dominance.  Heterosexism:  The belief in the inherentsuperiority of one pat, tern of lovingand thereby its right to dominance.  Homophobia:  The fear of feelings of love for members of one's own sexand therefore the hatred of those feelings in others.   THEABOVE FORMS of human blindness stem from the same root - an inability to recognize the notion of difference as a dynamic human force, one which is enriching rather than threatening to the defined self, when there are shared goals. To a large degree, at least verbally, the Black community has moved beyond the "two steps behind her man" concept of sexual relations sometimes mouthed as desirable during the sixties. This was a time when the myth of the Black matriarchy as a social disease was being presented by racist forces to redirect our attentions away from the real sources of Black oppression.  For Black women as well as Black men, it is axiomatic that if we do not define ourselves for ourselves, we will be defined by others - for their use and to our detriment. The development of self-defined Black women, ready to explore and pursue our power and interests within our communities, is a vital component in the war for Black liberation. The image of the Angolan woman with a baby on one arm and a gun in the other is neither romantic nor fanciful. When Black women in this country corne together to examine our sources of strength an