Elsa Gidlow
Elsa Gidlow | |
|---|---|
Gidlow in 1974 | |
| Born | Elsie Alice Gidlow 29 December 1898 Hull, Yorkshire, England |
| Died | 8 June 1986 (aged 87) Mill Valley, California, United States |
| Occupation |
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| Education | Self-educated: 104 |
| Period | 1917–1986 |
| Genre | Love poetry, essays, autobiography |
| Subject | Love, beauty, politics, protest, mysticism, nature |
| Literary movement | Lesbian literature Feminist literature |
| Notable works | On A Grey Thread (1923) Elsa, I Come with My Songs (1986) |
| Partner | Isabel Grenfell Quallo (1945–1964) "Tommy" Violet Henry-Anderson (1924–1935†) Muriel Symington (1922) |
Elsa Gidlow (29 December 1898 – 8 June 1986) was a British-born, Canadian-American poet, freelance journalist, philosopher and humanitarian. She is best known for writing On a Grey Thread (1923), the first volume of openly lesbian love poetry published in North America. In the 1950s, Gidlow helped found Druid Heights, a bohemian community in Marin County, California. She was the author of thirteen books and appeared as herself in the documentary film, Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives (1977). Completed just before her death, her autobiography, Elsa, I Come with My Songs (1986), recounts her life story. It is the first complete-life, lesbian autobiography published where the author "outs" herself and does not employ a pseudonym.