Elsa Gidlow Biography | Poet

Elfie Gidlow (December 29, 1898 – June 8, 1986) was a poet, freelance journalist, and philosopher who was born in Britain and later became a Canadian-American. She is best known for her work "On A Grey Thread" (1923), which is considered one of the first volumes of openly lesbian love poetry published in North America. In the 1950s, Gidlow co-founded Druid Heights, a bohemian community in Marin County, California. Over her lifetime, she authored thirteen books and appeared as herself in the documentary film "Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives" (1977). Completed shortly before her death, her book "Elsa, I Come With My Songs" (1986) became the first published lesbian autobiography.