Audre Lorde's Public Speeches: Poet Orator, Wounded Warrior

FAIN: FT-53149-05

Lester Clarence Olson
University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA 15260-6133)

I propose to conduct research for a book focused on Audre Lorde's public speeches (1977-92). In my published essays about Lorde's oratory, I was limited to publicly available materials, because her estate had reserved her papers exclusively for use by Alexis De Veaux, who is the authorized biographer. In 2002, Lorde's daughter, Elizabeth Rollins, after reading my published essays, made arrangements so that I was given permission to access Lorde's papers at Spelman College in Atlanta. I am literally the second and only other scholar to be entrusted with these primary materials which remain closed otherwise. A book concerning Lorde's public speeches would engage scholars' attention across the humanities.