‘Inspiring. Emotionally charged. Ground-breaking’ BERNARDINE EVARISTO
‘A revelation. I am so thankful to Ntozake Shange for seeing us, reflecting us and showing us how beautiful we can be’ JESMYN WARD
‘Encompassing, it seems, every feeling and experience a woman has ever had’ NEW YORKER
The Lady in Red has adored her lover for 8 months, 2 wks, & a day, but now she is leaving. The Lady in Blue has an abortion, all alone. The Lady in Brown can read fifteen books in three weeks.
The Lady in Purple has met a man, and is finally being real. The Lady in Yellow was a virgin, until she spent her graduation night driving around in a black Buick with boys. And the Lady in Orange has to dance to keep from crying and dying.
Written in 1975 and immediately hailed as a masterwork, this ‘choro-poem’ is made up of monologues detailing loss, betrayal, love and community. A passionate and fearless portrait of black womanhood in the twentieth century, it resonates with deep emotional power and unusual beauty.
A W&N Essential
‘A revelation. I am so thankful to Ntozake Shange for seeing us, reflecting us and showing us how beautiful we can be’ JESMYN WARD
‘Encompassing, it seems, every feeling and experience a woman has ever had’ NEW YORKER
The Lady in Red has adored her lover for 8 months, 2 wks, & a day, but now she is leaving. The Lady in Blue has an abortion, all alone. The Lady in Brown can read fifteen books in three weeks.
The Lady in Purple has met a man, and is finally being real. The Lady in Yellow was a virgin, until she spent her graduation night driving around in a black Buick with boys. And the Lady in Orange has to dance to keep from crying and dying.
Written in 1975 and immediately hailed as a masterwork, this ‘choro-poem’ is made up of monologues detailing loss, betrayal, love and community. A passionate and fearless portrait of black womanhood in the twentieth century, it resonates with deep emotional power and unusual beauty.
A W&N Essential
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Reviews
Inspiring. Emotionally charged. Ground-breaking. This text has always had a special place in my heart
Encompassing, it seems, every feeling and experience a woman has ever had
A cannon-creating work that illuminates the lived experience of Black women. First conceived in 1974, it is rightfully revered for its unquantifiable influence
for colored girls shattered the Negro propriety I knew and lived by. The force of Shange's writing seemed to say, "Fuck the old rule of not airing your female business in front of colored men, white people, let alone the rest of the world." You own the copyright on your life
Celebrates the capacity to master pain and betrayals with wit, sister-sharing, reckless daring, and flight and forgetfulness if necessary
Extraordinary ... Ntozake Shange writes with such exquisite care and beauty
A revelation. I am so thankful to Ntozake Shange for seeing us, reflecting us ... for weaving our words into drama, into poetry, and showing us how beautiful we can be
