by Imani Perry
First published 2023
This posthumous collection gathers unpublished poems, essays, and plays from Ntozake Shange's archives, spanning her career from her Barnard College days in the late 1960s to her final years before her death in 2018. National Book Award winner Imani Perry curates these works, which include the moments that sparked Shange's acclaimed "for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf." The collection features politically charged verses from the Black Arts Movement era alongside Shange's signature tender rhythms that capture the details of Black life. Readers encounter young Shange discovering her voice, travel with a musical family, sit in therapy sessions, and explore plays written after "for colored girls" achieved international success. These works maintain their original form, preserving the literary rebel's unique style that redefined genre and form while serving as love letters to Black women and girls.
Genres: african-american, poetry, biography-memoir, african-american-historical-fiction
Vibes: emotional, intimate, lyrical
Tropes: found-family, love-letter
Period: Late 1960s, 2018
473 pages · Kindle Edition · Legacy Lit