Lorde Audre. Zami: A New Spelling of My Name

The Crossing Press; First Edition edition, 1982. — 256 p.Zami: A New Spelling of My Name is a 1982 autobiography by African American poet Audre Lorde. It started a new genre that the author calls biomythography, which combines history, biography, and myth. In the text, Lorde writes that "Zami" is "a Carriacou name for women who work together as friends and lovers," Carriacou being the Caribbean island from which her mother immigrated. The name is fitting: Lorde begins Zami writing that she owes her power and strength to the women in her life, and much of the book is devoted to detailed portraits of other women.I came across Audre Lorde's Zami, and I cried to think how lucky I was to have found her. She was an inspiration. At last I felt I fitted in. -- Jackie KayExcellent and evocative... personal honesty and lack of pretentiousness shine through the writing. Her experiences are painted with exquisite imagery * The New York Times *Zami is important because of its descriptions of growing up a black lesbian feminist in the 1950s, with open, unapologetic, vivid descriptions of women's relationships * Guardian *Her work is so quotable. It has the zeitgeist factor. Now, just as much as ever, we need the voice of Audre Lorde * New Statesman *I have an Audre Lorde Google alert on my phone. It helps confirm how relevant my favorite black, lesbian, mother, warrior poet remains today * Huffington Post *Audre Lorde says it best * Refinery29 *Lorde's examination of her multiple outsiderness pried my sheltered mind wide open -- Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home (in `My Ten Favorite Books,' New York Times Magazine) Zami is just the best * Vice *Zami made me realise that I was not alone... that I, too, could be as courageous and as loud with my truths * Elle Magazine *Zami feels larger than life - almost legendary - while remaining grounded, intimate and moving * Cosmopolitan *The truth of her writing is as necessary today as it's ever been * Guardian *