Rich, Adrienne (1929– )

US radical feminist poet, writer, and critic. Her poetry is both subjective and political, concerned with female consciousness, peace, and gay rights. Her works include On Lies, Secrets and Silence (1979), The Fact of a Doorframe: Poems, 1950–84 (1984), and What is Found There: Notebooks on Poetry and Politics (1994).

Rich grew up in Baltimore. While a student at Radcliffe she published her first book of poems A Change of World (1951). In the 1960s her poetry was closely involved with the student and antiwar movements in the USA but since then she has concentrated on women's issues. In 1974, when given the National Book Award, she declined to accept it as an individual, but, with Alice Walker and Audrey Rich accepted it on behalf of all women.