Zami: A New Spelling of My Name

Lorde called this book a “biomythography,” a term she invented for a work that weaves autobiography, history, and myth into something new. It traces her life from a childhood in 1930s Harlem through her coming of age as a young Black lesbian in the 1950s.

Why Read This

If you prefer narrative to essays, Zami is your entry point into Lorde’s world. The writing is more lyrical and sensual than Sister Outsider, rich with the textures of food, place, and desire. Lorde renders her mother’s Caribbean kitchen, the streets of wartime New York, and her early loves with a poet’s attention to detail. The book is named after a Carriacou word for women who work together as friends and lovers, and it celebrates the communities of women who shaped her.

What to Expect

A memoir told with a novelist’s eye for scene and character. The chronological arc moves from childhood to young adulthood, but the prose has a dreamlike, layered quality that sets it apart from conventional autobiography. Contains frank descriptions of sexuality and desire. Selected by the BBC as one of its “100 Novels That Shaped Our World.”