A writer, teacher and activist, Audre Lorde grew up in 1930s Harlem. She earned a master's degree in library science from Columbia University, received a National Endowment for the Arts grant for poetry, and was New York State Poet Laureate from 1991 until her death of cancer at the age of fifty-eight in 1992. She is the author of twelve books, including Zami and The Black Unicorn.