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Coal
Series: Penguin Modern Classics
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Brief Description
A beloved and ground-breaking collection by the legendary poet, writer and political activist. I am Black because I come from the earth's inside now take my word for jewel in the open light. Impassioned and profound, the poems in Coal showcase Audre Lorde in all her...
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Coal
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Description
A beloved and ground-breaking collection by the legendary poet, writer and political activist.
I am Black because I come from the earth's inside now take my word for jewel in the open light.
Impassioned and profound, the poems in Coal showcase Audre Lorde in all her dazzling elegance and multiplicity. Mournful, celebratory, politically conscious, this early collection faithfully captures the complex interiority of the self. With insight and great feeling, these poems explore racial and sexual politics, liberation and love; they are strongly autobiographical, including poems about Lorde's children, her sister and her parents, as well as an elegy for a dear childhood friend. These timeless poems resonate down the years.
Series: Penguin Modern Classics
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Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780241782965
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 16 April 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Penguin Classics
Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 6.0mm
Width: 128.0mm
Height: 197.0mm
Weight: 88g
Pages: 96
About the Author
Audre Lorde was a writer, feminist and civil rights activist - or, as she famously put it, 'Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet'. Born in New York in 1934, she had her first poem published while she was still in high school. After stints as a factory worker, ghost writer, social worker, X-ray technician, medical clerk, and arts and crafts supervisor, she became a librarian in Manhattan and gradually rose to prominence as a poet, essayist and speaker, anthologised by Langston Hughes, lauded by Adrienne Rich, and befriended by James Baldwin. She was made Poet Laureate of New York State in 1991, when she was awarded the Walt Whitman prize; she was also awarded honorary doctorates from Hunter, Oberlin and Haverford colleges. She died of cancer in 1992, aged 58.
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