Adrienne Rich (1929-2012)
Often remembered for her poem “Diving into the Wreck,” Adrienne Rich was a poet and essayist. Bringing her identities as Jewish-American Woman and a Lesbian to the front of her poetry and prose, Rich was a well-known thinker and academic of second wave feminism.
Among her many poetic contributions, Rich also wrote the essay “Compulsory Heterosexuality and the Lesbian Experience,” which has since been recognized as a foundational text in queer and feminist studies.