Black, queer, feminist, Buddhist: The Fire Inside casts a fresh new light on the radical literary legacies of James Baldwin and Audre Lorde

A Lit Hub Independent Press Bestseller

Includes meditation exercises.

The Fire Inside explores the writings of Audre Lorde and James Baldwin through a Dharmic lens, revealing for the first time how two of America’s greatest literary voices reflect—and expand—Buddhism’s most timeless truths toward justice and liberation.

Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad dives deeply into a dharma of liberation as lived by Baldwin and Lorde, offering timely lessons to help us each meet this moment. She explores the writers’ enduring legacies to show that liberation depends not only on organizing and mass movements, but the generative power of inner well-being, authenticity, art, and embodiment. Each chapter shares how looking inward is the way forward, examining Baldwin and Lorde through key Buddhist principles:

Suffering as a teacher: how Baldwin and Lorde investigated suffering in their own lives—and how expanded and disrupted interpretations of the Dharma
Denial, impermanence, and death: on Baldwin’s exploration of white supremacy and fear of death and Lorde’s understanding of illness and inevitable change
Ultimate and relative reality: how honoring race, gender, sexuality, and difference lies at the heart of Buddhist liberation
Karma and not-self: how the doctrine of karma can be reclaimed to cultivate inner liberation and support activists working to dismantle oppression
Anger and compassion: how we metabolize internalized rage, reject hatred, and embrace compassion toward transformation
Erotic paths to enlightenment: on the power of sensuality and erotic energy; rejecting dominant heteronormativity; and attaining enlightenment through sexual union

This book offers space for emerging conversations within spiritual communities—ones that don’t shy away from difficult or uncomfortable truths; that center—and celebrate—Black, queer, radical thought; and that embrace the ways our inner lives, creative fire, sensuality, and expressions of love can ignite and sustain revolutionary liberation.

Story Locale:TOC

Format: Trade Paperback

Author: Vesely-Flad, Rima

Publisher: North Atlantic Books

Pub Date: February 3, 2026

Category: Social Science / Cultural & Ethnic Studies / American Studies

ISBN: 9798889842583

Evening House Books

Filters

North Atlantic Books

The Fire Inside: The Dharma of James Baldwin and Audre Lorde

Postcolonial Astrology: Reading the Planets through Capital, Power, and Labor