A Burst of Light: and Other Essays
A Burst of Light: and Other Essays
Written by: Audre Lorde
Illustrated by: Jen Keenan
Publisher: Ixia Press (September 13, 2017 (originally October 1996))
Winner of the 1988 Before Columbus Foundation National Book Award, this path-breaking collection of essays is a clarion call to build communities that nurture our spirit. Lorde announces the need for a radical politics of intersectionality while struggling to maintain her own faith as she wages a battle against cancer. From reflections on her struggle with the disease to thoughts on lesbian sexuality and African-American identity in a straight white man’s world, Lorde’s voice remains enduringly relevant in today's political landscape.
Those who practice and encourage social justice activism frequently quote her exhortation, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” In addition to the journal entries of “A Burst of Light: Living with Cancer,” this edition includes an interview, “Sadomasochism: Not About Condemnation,” and three essays, “I Am Your Sister: Black Women Organizing Across Sexualities,” “Apartheid U.S.A.,” and “Turning the Beat Around: Lesbian Parenting 1986,” as well as a new Foreword by Sonia Sanchez.
“The self-described black feminist lesbian mother poet used a mixture of prose, theory, poetry, and experience to interrogate oppressions and uplift marginalized communities. She was one of the first black feminists to target heteronormativity, and to encourage black feminists to expand their understanding of erotic pleasure. She amplified anti-oppression, even as breast cancer ravaged her ailing body.”
—Evette Dionne, Bustle
“You don’t read Audre Lorde, you feel her.”
—Essence
“Lorde’s timeless prose in this collection provides contemporary social justice warriors the language, strategies, and lessons around resistance, through the power of intersectionality, a Pan-African vision, and – ultimately – through the power of love and radical self-care.”
—NBC News
“When I don’t know what to do, I turn to the Lorde.”
—Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture
