"And where the words of women are crying to be heard, we must each of us recognise our responsibility to seek those words out to read them and share them and examine them in their pertinence to our lives."

"

This book certainly needs no introduction and there have been hundreds of reviews before me on the work and words of Audre Lorde. However it is now clear to me after reading this collection why Audre Lorde is so praised, so frequently quoted and why her works are feminist classics.

I thought as I picked up this book that it was perhaps one I should have read long ago. However as I read on, as I pondered and as I noted down my thoughts. I paused and reflected upon certain aspects of Audre Lorde's words, and I realised this was a book that came to me at exactly the right time.

At the age of 25, as I have more certainty about who I am, my own beliefs and what I stand for. By reading Sister Outsider now, I had a much fuller appreciation for the nuance and the thought with which Audre Lorde writes. Had I read this as a fresh faced teenager, I'm not sure the impression would have been the same because my world bubble and my ideas were not yet as broad as they are now. This is not to say that teenagers and youngster will not fully identify and find relevance in Audre Lorde's words. For me, however, I felt that appreciation of her words, her arguments was felt much more strongly with my own maturity.

Sister Outsider is as relevant today as it was 30 years ago upon publication, which is both angering and a reflection upon the insights that Lorde offers in her works. Audre Lorde is undoubtedly a woman whose other works will be finding their way into my book collection soon, including her poetry because I was incredibly blown away. Absolutely brilliant ✨