Zami - Assim Reescrevo o Meu Nome is a memoir that traces Audre Lorde’s life from childhood to adulthood, following the growth of a severely nearsighted and lonely girl who would become the brilliant poet, “Black, lesbian, feminist, mother, warrior.” More than a traditional autobiography, Zami weaves in maternal mythologies — from the ritual of hair braiding to the distant ancestral land of Carriacou, legendary for the strength, love, and beauty of its women.

Lorde’s memories evoke tender and violent images, silent dialogues, her first poems, life expanding with each encounter, the painful collapse of every farewell, the discovery of love between women, eroticism, and resistance — against poverty, systemic racism, and the boundaries of 1950s New York queer subculture. It is a story inseparable from the women who shaped her — her mother, friends, and lovers — each leaving a deep imprint, an “emotional tattoo,” on Lorde’s evolving identity.

Audre Lorde (1934–1992), a major figure of Black feminism, was a prominent American poet and thinker.

A pioneer of intersectional theory and decolonial critique, she embraced her multifaceted identity, publicly describing herself as a “Black lesbian mother warrior poet.” She devoted her life to fighting racism, sexism, homophobia, and invisibility. A librarian and English professor, Lorde forged powerful alliances and worked actively, leaving us some of the most significant contributions to contemporary feminist thought.

She received honorary doctorates from several institutions and served as New York State Poet Laureate from 1991 to 1993. In 2020, she was posthumously honored with a place in the American Poets Corner at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.