Crime Against Nature

Minnie Bruce Pratt (1946–2023) was an American poet, essayist, educator, and activist renowned for her intersectional feminist work exploring race, class, gender, and sexuality, particularly in her award-winning collection Crime Against Nature (1990), which recounts her loss of child custody after coming out as a lesbian and earned the Lamont Poetry Selection and Stonewall Book Award. Other notable works include The Dirt She Ate (2003, Lambda Literary Award), Inside the Money Machine (2011, Audre Lorde Award), and Magnified (2022). She taught at Syracuse University, co-founded feminist organizations, and was a pivotal figure in LGBTQ+ literature until her death from glioblastoma.