American Women — Poetry

  • Judy Grahn and Grace Paley at the Women’s Building

    Poet and activist Judy Grahn and author Grace Paley speak at the Benefit for War Resisters League at the Women’s Building in San Francisco. The recording opens with the band Swing Shift performing the song “My girl.” Grahn’s reading here is the unedited version of the reading heard in AZ0456. Paley’s reading here is identical…

  • Voices of lesbian pride

    A celebration of the 10th annual Lesbian Pride Week, featuring poets & artists who will be appearing during this year’s events. Alix Dobkin’s song “Women Loving” opens the program. Jewelle Gomez reads her poem “Flamingos and Bears”. Eleanor Cooper of Lesbian Feminist Liberation talks about Lesbian Pride Week through the years and about the importance…

  • The Velvet Sledgehammer: April 22, 1981

    Poetry reading by Audre Lorde. Recorded on December 12, 1980 at Barnard College, this poetry reading was a benefit for the Women’s Experimental Theater of New York. Lorde reads several poems and excerpts from The Cancer Journals, which had been recently published. Audre Lorde is introduced by WET founder, Sandra Segal and Clare Coss. Program…

  • The Velvet Sledgehammer: December 23, 1981

    Aircheck of The Velvet Sledgehammer from December 23, 1981. Hosted and produced by Judy Pasternak. Today’s episode about women and work. The first segment is Mirror Image “reflections of working women past, present and future” by BJ Kling about Artemisia, the 4th-century Persian admiral, and her 20th century counterpart Roxanna Schuchman, first woman member of…

  • The Velvet Sledgehammer – August 11, 1982: Poetry reading at Plowshares III Coffeehouse

    Poetry reading hosted by Nancy DuPlessis, held June 24th, 1982 at the Plowshare III Coffee House, set up for the duration of the 2nd special United Nations Conference on Disarmament. In Part 1, the readers are Jan Clausen (b. 1950), short story writer, founding editor of Conditions magazine, activist in the feminist movement working for…

  • The Lesbian Show – October 23, 1978: Varied Voices of Black Women

    This episode of The Lesbian Show features a conversation among three of the four women from “Varied Voices of Black Women,” a poetry and music production touring the north East Coast, produced by Mud Productions. The guests are pianist Mary Watkins (b. 1939), singer and percussionist Linda Tillery (b.1948), and poet Pat Parker (1944-1989). Gwen…

  • The Lesbian Show: September 9, 1980 – GALA lesbian pride week poetry reading

    Recording of lesbian poets reading as part of Gay and Lesbian Alliance (GALA)’s Lesbian Pride Week celebrations, recorded on June 28th, 1980. Jane Creighton reads “Song for Love Has No Object”, “Ceres in an Open Field”, “Thinking About Her”, and “Naked and Rosy”; Fran Winant reads from her book “Looking at Women” two poems, “Happy…

  • Diane di Prima reads

    Radio Free People presents poet Diane di Prima reads chapter of an upcoming prose book Blessed are the Meek, Baby, a monologue “Zip Code”, and four part poem “Canticle of St. Joan”. Produced by Radio Free People at a poetry reading in March 1969 at St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery in New York City.…

  • Festival of Underground Poetry: Diane di Prima

    Beat poet Diane di Prima reads excerpts from her book “The Calculus of Variation” at the Festival of Underground Poetry at the UC Berkeley Art Museum on October 10, 1971. The festival was co-sponsored by the UC Berkeley Art Museum and the Berkeley Poets’ Commune. Recording starts in the middle of a sentence and seems…

  • Sonia Sanchez / interviewed by David Henderson. (Episode 4 of 4)

    Sonia Sanchez (1934 – ), poet and co-founder of the Black Studies department at San Francisco State College, reads some of her poems and discusses her work with David Henderson, poet and editor of the 1967-68 anthology series Umbra. She reads Homecoming, Summary, The final solution/the leaders speak, To a jealous cat, Sonia’s blues, and…