Audre Lorde has published seven books of poetry, most recently Coal (1976) and The Black Unicorn (1978), both published by W. W. Norton. Her Cancer Journals, a collection of prose, was published by Spinsters Ink in 1980. She was born in New York City, attended Hunter High School and Hunter College, received her degree as a librarian, and is a professor of English at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in the City University of New York. She is now at work on a novel. This interview, held on August 30, 1979, was edited from three hours of tapes we made together. It was commissioned by Marilyn Hacker, the guest editor of Woman Poet: The Northeast (general editor, Elaine Dallman), where portions of it appear.