Judy Grahn
Judy Grahn is an internationally known poet, author, mythographer, and cultural theorist. Her works include seven books of nonfiction, two book-length poems, five poetry collections, a reader, and a novel. An early Gay activist who walked the first picket of the White House for Gay rights in 1965, she later founded Gay Women’s Liberation and the Women’s Press Collective. Her intention with writing is to replace obsolete philosophies with better ones. Her subjects range from LGBT history and mythology to feminist critiques of current crises, new origin theories of inclusion, what makes us human, taking racism personally in dismantling white supremacy, and stories of how to engage with creature-minds and spirit. She also writes about and teaches poetry of Sumerian goddess Inanna, and has written three books tying her to Helen of Troy, and bringing Inanna’s major stories up to date. Judy’s engagement with the rich literature of ancient Mesopotamia began in the 1980s, with two book-length poems, and now has blossomed into Eruptions of Inanna: Justice, Gender, and Erotic Power, a retelling of the adventures and wisdom of the great goddess of love, eroticism, justice, ecology, fortune, and gender relations. Among Judy’s re-interpretations of this mythology are the female roots of The Book of Job, and the goddess-saturated search of King Gilgamesh for eternal life, as well as Judy’s interpretations of lively stories of Inanna’s approach to social justice and erotic love. Judy holds a Ph.D. in Integral Studies/Women’s Spirituality, from the California Institute of Integral Studies. She researched her dissertation in South India and brings lived experience and knowledge of contemporary rituals to cast further light on the brilliant ancient poetry of the Sumerians.