Elsa Gidlow
| Elsa Gidlow | |
|---|---|
Elsa Gidlow in 1974
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| Born | Elfie Gidlow 29 December 1898 Hull, Yorkshire, England |
| Died | 8 June 1986 (aged 87) Mill Valley, California, United States |
| Occupation | Poet, author, editor, journalist, political activist, philosopher |
| Citizenship | American |
| Education | Self-educated |
| Period | 1917–1986 |
| Genre | Love poetry, essays, autobiography |
| Subject | Love, beauty, politics, protest, mysticism, nature |
| Literary movement |
Lesbian literature Feminist literature |
| Notable works |
On A Grey Thread (1923) Elsa, I Come with My Songs (1986) |
| Partner | Isabel Grenfell Quallo (1945–1964) "Tommy" Violet Henry-Anderson (1924–1935†) Muriel Symington (1922) |
| Relatives | Thea (sister) |
Elfie Gidlow (29 December 1898 – 8 June 1986) was a British-born, Canadian-American poet, freelance journalist, and philosopher. She is best known for writing On A Grey Thread (1923), possibly the first volume of openly lesbian love poetry published in North America. In the 1950s, Gidlow helped found Druid Heights, a bohemian community in Marin County, California. She was the author of thirteen books and appeared as herself in the documentary film, Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives (1977). Completed just before her death, her autobiography, Elsa, I Come with My Songs (1986), recounts her life story.
Elsa Gidlow was born Elfie Gidlow on 29 December 1898 in Hull, Yorkshire, England. Sometime around 1904, the Gidlow family emigrated to Tétreaultville, Quebec, Canada. At the age of fifteen, Gidlow and her family moved to Montreal. She was first employed by a contact of her father's in Montreal, a factory doctor, as assistant editor to Factory Facts, an in-house magazine.
In 1917, she began seeking out fellow writers and meeting with them, particularly in the field of amateur journalism, which was popular at the time. With collaborator Roswell George Mills, Gidlow published Les Mouches Fantastiques, one of the first gay magazines in Canada. H. P. Lovecraft, a fellow amateur journalist, attacked their work, leading Gidlow to defend it and attack back in return; the dispute created a minor controversy but brought Gidlow and Mills public, albeit negative attention.
Gidlow moved to New York in 1920 at the age of 21. There she was employed by Frank Harris of Pearson's, a magazine supportive of poets and unsympathetic to the war and England. It was at this time she met Kenneth Rexroth, later known as the "father" of the San Francisco Renaissance. Later, in 1926, she moved to San Francisco. With the exception of nearly a year spent in Europe, mostly in Paris, in 1928, she continued living in the San Francisco Bay Area for the rest of her life.
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