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for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf

On sale

5th June 2025

Price: £10.99

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Selected: Paperback / ISBN-13: 9781474621984

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‘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

Reviews

Encompassing, it seems, every feeling and experience a woman has ever had
New Yorker
Inspiring. Emotionally charged. Ground-breaking. This text has always had a special place in my heart
Bernardine Evaristo
Extraordinary ... Ntozake Shange writes with such exquisite care and beauty
New York Times
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
Hilton Als
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
Jesmyn Ward
A cannon-creating work that illuminates the lived experience of Black women. First conceived in 1974, it is rightfully revered for its unquantifiable influence
Guardian
Celebrates the capacity to master pain and betrayals with wit, sister-sharing, reckless daring, and flight and forgetfulness if necessary
Toni Cade Bambara