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Judy Grahn

ジュディ・グラウン

Judy Grahn

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1940-07-28 （Chicago, Illinois, U.S.）
Nationality
American
Languages
English
Residence History
Chicago, Illinois (birth) → a desert town in New Mexico (childhood) → California (residence and career)

Career

Occupations
Author, Poet, Activist, Educator
Active Years
1964-
Affiliations
New College of California (director, Women's Spirituality / Creative Inquiry programs), California Institute of Integral Studies (lecturer), Institute for Transpersonal Psychology (lecturer)
Influenced By
ancient poets and mythic traditions, Sappho
Influenced
Lesbian poets and the feminist poetry movement from the 1970s onward, scholars of women's spirituality and Metaformic Theory

Education

California Institute of Integral Studies
Degree: PhD
Country: United States
PhD earned (year not specified)

Awards

Lambda Literary Award (Lesbian Poetry)
2009
Work: love belongs to those who do the feeling
Organization: Lambda Literary Foundation
Result: 受賞
Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement
1994
Organization: Publishing Triangle
Result: 受賞
PEN Oakland Reginald Martin Award for Excellence in Criticism
2022
Work: Eruptions of Inanna: Justice, Gender, and Erotic Power
Organization: PEN Oakland
Result: 受賞
Stonewall Book Award
Organization: American Library Association (Rainbow Roundtable)
Result: 受賞（年不明）
Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts
Organization: National Endowment for the Arts
Result: 助成
American Book Award
Organization: Before Columbus Foundation (organization info unclear)
Result: 受賞（年不明）
Founding Foremothers of Women's Spirituality Award
Result: 受賞（詳細不明）

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Edward the Dyke and Other Poems

1971 Poetry

An early collection of poems addressing lesbian identity, working-class experience, and political themes in plain, direct language.

lesbian identityclasspolitics

A Woman is Talking to Death

1974 Poetry

A poem/collection blending elegiac and love-lyric traditions with a powerful testimonial lesbian voice.

lovelosstestimonial voice

Blood, Bread, and Roses: How Menstruation Created the World

1993 Nonfiction

A cultural-historical and mythological study proposing Metaformic Theory, tracing aspects of civilization to ancient menstrual rites.

Metaformic Theorywomen's culturemyth and ritual

love belongs to those who do the feeling

2008 Poetry (selected and new poems)

A collection of selected and new poems exploring gender, lesbian culture, emotion, and politics. Winner of the 2009 Lambda Literary Award.

emotiongenderlesbian culture

Eruptions of Inanna: Justice, Gender, and Erotic Power

2021 Criticism / Essays

A collection of critical essays on justice, gender, and erotic power; recognized by PEN Oakland with an award for excellence in criticism.

genderjusticeerotic power

Bibliography

  • Another Mother Tongue: Gay Words, Gay Worlds (1984)
  • The Highest Apple: Sappho And The Lesbian Poetic Tradition (1985)
  • Blood, Bread, and Roses: How Menstruation Created the World (1993)
  • The Work of a Common Woman: Collected Poetry (1964–1977) (collected)
  • love belongs to those who do the feeling (2008)
  • Eruptions of Inanna: Justice, Gender, and Erotic Power (2021)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
plain, direct languagefree versetestimonial / prophetic voicepolitical and feminist expression
Recurring Motifs
lesbian identitywomen's spirituality and mythmenstruation and Metaformic Theoryclass and oppression

Health

  • Inoculation lymphoreticulosis (described as Cat Scratch Fever) leading to coma
    25歳ごろ（1960年代半ば）
    The illness and recovery were a turning point; after recovering she committed to becoming a poet.

Legacy

Judy Grahn significantly influenced the lesbian poetry movement from the 1970s onward and contributed to the development and dissemination of women's spirituality and Metaformic Theory. The Publishing Triangle's Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction is named in her honor.

Academic Societies

  • Has engaged with academic groups related to women's studies and spirituality; specific society names not specified

In Popular Culture

  • Frequently cited as an emblematic figure in 1970s feminist and lesbian cultural movements.

Quotes

  • "I realized that if I was going to do what I had set out to do in my life, I would have to go all the way with it and take every single risk you could take.... I decided I would not do anything I didn't want to do that would keep me from my art."
    Source: Interview / biographical sources (quoted in biographies and interviews such as Tongue)

Trivia

  • The Publishing Triangle's Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction is named after her.
  • She joined the U.S. Air Force as a young adult and stated she was discharged for being a lesbian (less than honorable discharge).
  • Her poems circulated widely in underground networks and helped fuel the explosion of lesbian poetry in the 1970s.