Ntozake Shange

Playwright and novelist Ntzoake Shange, best known for her play For Colored Girls, joins Fresh Air to talk about the diversity of the black experience, her childhood and early education, and the criticism she sometimes gets from black male authors and playwrights. Her new play is called Betsey Brown.

Poet, playwright, and novelist Ntozake Shange is best known for her choreo-poem "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow is Enuf," which has been adapted for public television. Her first novel, "Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo" has just been published. It follows three sisters whose weaver mother named them after vivid dyes. The novel mixes poems, spells, potions, and recipes, and explores the territories and choices of modern Black women.

African-American poet Ntozake Shange tells Terry Gross about how Black liberation, women's movements and jazz have influenced her work. She has a new collection of poetry called Nappy Edges.