Audre’s Den was born out of reverence.

I first encountered Audre Lorde’s work in graduate school, but her words quickly moved beyond theory and into my life. Her writing gave me language for survival, for softness, for rage, for care. She named what so many of us feel but are taught to outrun. Through her essays and poems, I learned that reading and writing are not passive acts. They are ways we come home to ourselves.

For more than ten years, one line from Audre Lorde has served as a personal mantra and a compass: caring for myself is not self indulgence, it is self preservation, and that is an act of political warfare. That truth lives at the center of Audre’s Den. It reminds us that rest is necessary. That reflection is sacred. That tending to our inner lives is not separate from justice or liberation.

Audre’s Den exists as a physical and spiritual refuge. A bookstore, yes. But also a gathering place. A place to sit with words that tell the truth. To read slowly. To write freely. To rest without explanation. It is a response to a culture that asks us to produce more while feeling less, to move faster while knowing ourselves less deeply.

This space is for readers and writers who understand that stories shape us. That imagination can be a lifeline. That caring for ourselves and one another is radical in a world that benefits from our exhaustion.

Audre’s Den is an offering. A sanctuary rooted in Audre Lorde’s legacy. A place to remember that our lives, our stories, and our rest matter.

We will first open as a mobile bookstore and pop-up experience, traveling to various areas in the community and surrounding areas. We hope to open the doors of the brick & mortar location later this summer!