A major American writer, thinker, and activist, Adrienne Rich (1929鈥�2012) transformed herself from a traditional, Radcliffe-educated lyric poet and married mother of three sons into a path-breaking lesbian-feminist author of forceful, uncompromising prose as well as poetry. In doing so, she emerged as an architect and exemplar of the feminist movement, breaking ranks to denounce the male-dominated literary establishment and paving the way for women writers to take their places in the cultural mainstream. Drawing on a wealth of unpublished materials, including Rich鈥檚 correspondence and in-depth interviews with many people who knew her, Hilary Holladay provides a vividly detailed, full-dimensional portrait of a woman whose work and life continue to challenge and inspire new generations.
Hilary Holladay discusses why she wrote The Power of Adrienne Rich
Adrienne Rich鈥�s college years
On having a biographer鈥�s personality
The importance of asking 鈥�when?鈥�
The traits of a good biographer
On developing a 鈥渦nifying thread鈥�
On finding the human story in a biography
About the Author
Hilary Holladay is a biographer, journalist, and scholar of modern and contemporary American poetry. Her books include Herbert Huncke: The Times Square Hustler Who Inspired Jack Kerouac and the Beat Generation, which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, and Wild Blessings: The Poetry of Lucille Clifton.