Ntozake Shange

Ntozake Shange (October 18, 1948—October 27, 2018) was an American playwright and poet. As a Black feminist, she addressed issues relating to race and Black power in much of her work.

Shange is best known for the Obie Award–winning play for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf. She also penned several novels including Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo (1982), Liliane (1994), and Betsey Brown (1985), a novel about an African–American girl who runs away from home. Among Shange’s honors and awards were fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Fund, and a Pushcart Prize. In April 2016, Barnard College announced that it acquired Shange’s archive. Shange lived in Brooklyn, New York.