Book - Survival Is a Promise The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde

By Alexis Pauline Gumbs

This bold, innovative biography offers a new understanding of the life, work and enduring impact of Black Feminist Audre Lorde. Lorde’s understanding of survival was not simply about getting through oppression or facing cancer, it was about the total stakes of what it means to be in relationship with a planet in transformation.

Softcover, 6.5x9”, 528 pp., 2024.

"The strength of Survival is in its carefully rendered portraits of Lorde’s intimate relationships, both romantic and platonic. Gumbs clearly relates how Lorde’s commitment to world-building was not simply an abstract concern left to the domain of literature, but was realized in real-life communion with her chosen family . . . In every phase, we see Lorde herself as an energetic force that exists beyond the boundary of her body, and, certainly, the span of her life."

–Hawa Allan, The Boston Globe

"Both a biography and a celebration of the icon’s life and work . . . [Survival Is A Promise] offers a deeper understanding of [Lorde's] poetry, highlighting key moments that shaped her identity and activism, all with the hope of showing how expansive Lorde’s life was. Ultimately, Gumbs’s book argues that Lorde’s legacy lies not just in her powerful words but also in her embodiment of resilience and love in the face of adversity."

–Marian Jones, The Nation