*Lorde described herself as "a black-lesbian feminist mother lover poet." Poet, essayist, and novelist Audre Lorde was born on February 18, 1934, in New York City. Her parents were immigrants from Grenada. Lorde received her B.A. from Hunter College and an M.L.S. from Columbia University. Her first volume of poems, The First Cities, was published in 1968. The First Cities was quickly followed with Cables to Rage (1970) and From a Land Where Other People Live (1972), which was nominated for a National Book Award. In 1974 she published New York Head Shot and Museum.
In 1976, W.W. Norton released her collection Coal and shortly thereafter published The Black Unicorn. Her other volumes include Chosen Poems Old and New (1982) and Our Dead Behind Us (1986). Although her work gained wide acclaim, she was also sharply criticized. In an interview in the journal Callaloo, Lorde responded to her critics: "My sexuality is part and parcel of who I am, and my poetry comes from the intersection of me and my worlds. . . . Jesse Helms's objection to my work is not about obscenity . . .or even about sex. It is about revolution and change. . . . Helms knows that my writing is aimed at his destruction, and the destruction of every single thing he stands for."
Lorde was diagnosed with breast cancer and chronicled her struggles in her first prose collection, The Cancer Journals, which won the Gay Caucus Book of the Year award for 1981. Her other prose volumes include Zami: A New Spelling of My Name (1982), Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (1984), and A Burst of Light (1988), which won a National Book Award.
In the 1980s, Lorde and writer Barbara Smith founded Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press. She was also a founding member of Sisters in Support of Sisters in South Africa, an organization that worked to raise concerns about women under apartheid.
Audre Lorde was professor of English at John Jay College of criminal justice and Hunter College. She was the poet laureate of New York from 1991-1992. She died of breast cancer in 1992. The Collected Poems Of Audre Lorde was published in 1997.
I have been out of school for a while. Can I apply?
Yes but you must submit an acceptance letter if you are an entering freshman or transfer student.
The amount of the Audre Lorde Scholarship is between $1000- 3,000.
Please download an application from the website. We do not mail applications. We prefer that all application materials be mailed as one package. If the references or transcript(s) are mailed under separate cover, the student is responsible for making sure that we receive it on or before the deadline.
*We also require that you email one application package with the exception of transcripts and recommendation letters to zami@zami.org
Deadline (post-mark) and email for all application materials must be submitted by April 30, 2008. Awardees will be notified on or before July 30, 2008.
Awards are for the current academic semester only and by law are paid directly to the recipient and the academic institution. Please send proof of official registration at the beginning of the school year.
Checks not processed with the academic institution within 30 days of receipt will be rendered null and void by the Audre Lorde Scholarship Fund.
You may only apply for the upcoming school year starting JANUARY 15, 2009.
You will only hear from us if you are selected as a finalist. Finalists may be invited to participate in a face-to-face or telephone interview. We cannot confirm receipt of your application; therefore we recommend you use a delivery confirmation and tracking system, such as the USPS registered mail.
Yes, you can reapply.
Contact us at zami@zami.org or mail us at
ZAMI o/b/o The Audre Lorde Scholarship Fund
P.O. Box 2502,
Decatur, Georgia 30031
No.
All applications and accompanying materials must be completed by the deadline. It is your responsibility to follow up with the professor or educational institution.
Yes.We encourage early submission.
Absolutely.
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