A New British Feminist Press Is Publishing Audre Lorde

The Silver Press is also bringing out works by Leonora Carrington and the Milan Women’s Collective.

“I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.”

If you’ve recently visited a local NYC bookstore or marched in a protest rally in the last year, chances are that you’ve read the quote above. The line comes from “New Year’s Day” a poem by Audre Lorde, one of the great feminist writers and poets of the 20th-century. Lorde’s work has been undergoing a revival, spurred on by recent championing from writers such as Edwidge Danticat, who highlighted her work in a New Yorker piece titled “Poetry in a Time of Protest,” and a campaign launched by the artist Beth Steidle to have the aforementioned quote placed on the windows of independent New York booksellers.

Yet Lorde, who passed away from cancer in 1992, never had an official UK publisher. That is until now. The Silver Press, a new feminist publishing house founded by London Review of Books editors Joanna Biggs and Alice Spawls, along with Verso communications director Sarah Shin, have just released Your Silence Will Not Protect You, the first ever British edition of Lorde’s poetry, essays, and speeches writing. As the editors write in the release: “Audre Lorde described herself as ‘Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet’ […] her extraordinary belief in the power of language—of speaking—to foster selfhood, articulate injustice and bring about change in the world remains as transformative today as it was then, and no less urgent.”

Your Silence Will Not Protect You is one of the three inaugural works to be published by the Silver Press, with the other two being a collection of stories by the surrealist artist Leonora Carrington (published in the US by Dorothy, a Publishing Project) and a forthcoming translation of writings on “entrustment” by the Milan Women’s Collective.

You can read “Poetry Is Not a Luxury” a piece excerpted from Your Silence Will Not Protect You, which is out today, courtesy of the Silver Press’s blog.

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.