Ntozake Shange

Ntozake Shange
Shange in 1978
Born
Paulette Linda Williams

(1948-10-18)October 18, 1948
DiedOctober 27, 2018(2018-10-27) (aged 70)
EducationColumbia University (BA)
University of Southern California (MA)
Occupations
  • Playwright
  • author
  • poet
Known forfor colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf (1975)
RelativesIfa Bayeza (sister)
Bisa Williams (sister)
Websiteofficialntozakeshange.com

Ntozake Shange (/ˌɛntˈzɑːki ˈʃɑːŋɡ/ EN-toh-ZAH-kee SHAHNG;[1] October 18, 1948 – October 27, 2018) was an American playwright and poet.[2] As a Black feminist, she addressed issues relating to race and Black power in much of her work. She is best known for her Obie Award-winning play, for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf (1975). She also penned novels including Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo (1982), Liliane (1994), and Betsey Brown (1985), about an African-American girl run away from home.

Among Shange's honors and awards were fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Fund, a Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, and a Pushcart Prize. In April 2016, Barnard College announced that it had acquired Shange's archive.[3] She lived in Brooklyn, New York.[4] Shange had one daughter, Savannah Shange. Shange was married twice: to the saxophonist David Murray and the painter McArthur Binion, Savannah's father, with both marriages ending in divorce.[5]

  1. ^ Ntozake Shange Biography, FilmReference.com. Retrieved October 27, 2018.
  2. ^ Lester, Neal A., "At the Heart of Shange's Feminism: An Interview", Black American Literature Forum, Women Writers Issue (Winter 1990), 24(4): 717–730.
  3. ^ Gans, Andrew (April 18, 2016). "Barnard College Acquires Archives of Ntozake Shange". Playbill. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  4. ^ Lee, Felicia R. (September 17, 2010), "A Writer's Struggles, on and Off the Page", The New York Times. Retrieved September 30, 2010.
  5. ^ Collins-Hughes, Laura (October 28, 2018). "Ntozake Shange, Who Wrote 'For Colored Girls,' Is Dead at 70". The New York Times. Retrieved April 7, 2020.

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