Poetry comes from diverse communities and encaptures the different lives and experiences of each. For people identifying as queer, their appearance in books, films and music has almost always been seen as controversial to the point of being banned in some countries.
With rampant discrimination and repression of queer voices, the world has been denied some of the fulfilling works from the world’s biggest visionaries and leaders.
Over time, and despite the discrimination, many black authors and poets have risen up to fight the system and to proclaim their existence as black queer people. In their poems, in their novels and short stories, they have bravely asserted their identity and tackled all issues arising from their existence.
Scroll through to find out more about the six black queer poets you should know.