The essays in Audre Lorde's Transnational Legacies that pay tribute to Audre Lorde are part of a “wider black feminist transnational archive” (ix). Underscoring the importance of writing one's body or one's self into visibility, coeditors Stella Bolaki and Sabine Broeck caution against oppositional forces as they remind us that “writing may become even more important when there is so much resistance to hearing what we have to say” (xii). As the title of the book intimates, Lorde's legacy and reach are transnational and transatlantic in scope. Furthermore, Audre Lorde's Transnational Legacies explores the profundity of Lorde's literary and activist accomplishments, the unparalleled influence she has had (and continues to have) on successive generations of feminists and on feminist writings. Establishing that previous scholarship about Lorde is more aligned with a national register, Bolaki and Broeck emphasize that this collection's primary goal is to archive the transnational dimensions of her legacy.Footnote ¹

Lorde's transnational activism becomes manifest in the contributors’ wide-ranging expertise that includes artists, filmmakers, literary critics, theorists, translators, and publishers. Organized around three major themes – “Archives,” “Connections,” and “Work” – Audre Lorde's Transnational Legacies comprises reflections and shared memories with Lorde, rare interviews, discussion of two major films on the life and times of Lorde, musings on her travel narratives/memoirs, her biomythography, essays, and poetry. In keeping with the theme, “Archives” functions as a memory bank as the contributors – close friends and colleagues – share personal stories and encounters with Lorde; in other words, they are witness bearers. Further, this section chronicles Lorde's response to and reception in Europe, the widespread promotion and praise of the film The Berlin Years (2012), and Lorde's primary and pivotal role in igniting the Afro-German movement. Lorde was not only instrumental in galvanizing the black German feminist movement but also brought a feminist agenda and a queer presence to the fore (64). Lorde's critical presence resulted in many white women checking their privilege, which in turn engendered a “critical reflection of whiteness in the feminist movement” (131). “Connections” explores the politics of sisterhood and Lorde's enduring advocacy for global sisterhood, even as it underscores difference. Drawing on Lorde's constant use of the word in her own writings, “Work” focusses on the multiple work and individuals that Lorde has inspired and influenced. Besides, “Work” captures both the theoretical and the tangible, the nontheoretical, the embodied experience that the erotic engenders and that functions as a counterhegemonic force (15). We are duly reminded by Dagmar Schultz that Lorde lived her reality and saw no use “in theory that was separate from practice” (36). To this end, “Work” captures both the theoretical and the practical aspects of production.

Even while shedding light on Lorde's boundless influence, the coeditors are quick to point out that Lorde's reception was not always seamless and uncontroversial, calling attention to the fact that her contribution to the debate about Europe was dismissed and discredited because of the “anti-European message of her speech” (24), and to the unexpected and defensive response she received from white women when she questioned the glaring lack of black women's presence and participation at the First International Women's Book Fair in London. By the same token, Lorde had spoken much earlier about “the intersections of various oppressions” (36) despite not being credited for introducing the term “intersectionality.”Footnote ²

Lorde's influence on the Afro-German community resonates strongly throughout the book and is exemplified by the repeated and overlapping experiences of several contributors. The coeditors themselves call attention to the unevenness in the collection: “The telling of multiple stories … are hard to document” (226). One can safely argue that this collection has “moved beyond disciplinary boundaries” (2). Notwithstanding, the geographic locales of several contributors are more restrictive. Of the twenty-two contributors, sixteen are based in Europe; accordingly a significant number of the essays detail Lorde's work and time in Germany or Europe. Alexis Pauline Gumbs engenders a shift in the discourse as she reminds us that Lorde was equally critical of the black power movement, of its homophobia and sexism, as she was of the white-dominated movement of its racism and classism (163). Along similar lines, Tamara Lea Spira explores how “the Cold-War era Latin America and the Caribbean” served as fodder for Lorde's “visionary insights and theories” (178). Chantal Oakes discusses how the work of Mary Prince and Mary Seacole, and literature from the Caribbean in general, have influenced the literary and cultural vision and conversations of African-descended women in Britain.

Whereas Lorde's influence in Germany plays a major role in her identity politics, I would add to the coeditors’ reflection that “more work needs to be done to detail the responses of other people of color living in Germany” (227). In keeping with Lorde's transnational and transglobal influence, responses should remain boundaryless, limitless. For we need to follow in Audre Lorde's footsteps and never stop criss-crossing (physical, literal, or discursive) boundaries and borders.