New Releases by Ntozake Shange

''Ntozake Shange''''s best plays reissued in the new Contemporary Dramatists series. This collection spans twenty years and brings together her works ''''for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf''''. ''''Shange''''s poetry is mordantly witty, unpredictable and disciplined. It has to do with love and death and the deepest feelings of young women - in particular, black young women'''' (New Yorker) ''''spell# 7'''' ''''Shange''''s sinewy, erotic, insistent poetry snakes through this play - a powerful and passionate evocation of black culture suppressed, or just plain ignored'''' (Time Out), The Love Space Demands- ''''Focusing on the experiences of black women but drawing on an awesome range of cross-cultural references, her words ooze with earthy sensuality.a remarkable, lyrical experience of live poetry'''' (Independent).''''Shange''''s language is pure gold'''' (City Limits)''

Fifty-five poems grouped under five headings: "things i wd say," "love & other highways," "closets," " & she bleeds," and "she whispers with the unicorn."

Using the classic call-and-response structure of black music--the visual art work as the call and language as the response--this book provides a unique interchange between contemporary visual arts and poetry

"Series of poetic vignettes built around the theme of what it means to be black in America, and set in a St. Louis bar frequented by black musicians and artists. The various characters unburden their souls through soliloquies, often supported by appropriate dances which illustrate the emotional content of their speeches." - Doollee website.

Essays on black theater, dance and music.--

The noted poet, playwright, and novelist offers a collection of intensely personal poems intended to map out the geography of life and beauty that she would declare for her daughter