Audre Lorde, born in New York City 1934, was a “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet” as she liked to describe herself. In her poetry and prose she addressed crucial issues such as feminism, sexuality and racism. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1978, she underwent a mastectomy. She died in 1992. To celebrate her 87th birthday, on 18 February, we tweeted excerpts from The Cancer Journals, a seminal book published in 1980 in which she analyzed her experience with the primary breast cancer through political lenses.