The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Book Cover for: Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo, Ntozake Shange

Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo

Ntozake Shange

Ntozake Shange's beloved Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo is the story of three sisters and their mother from Charleston, South Carolina.

"A jubilant celebration of womanhood--as moving as the moon . . . pure magic." --Kansas City Star

Sassafrass, the oldest, is a poet and a weaver like her mother before her. Having gone north to college, she is now living with other artists in Los Angeles and trying to weave a life out of her work, her man, her memories and dreams. Cypress, the dancer, leaves home to find new ways of moving in the world. Indigo, the youngest, is still a child of Charleston-"too much of the south in her"-who lives in poetry and has the supreme gift of seeing the obvious magic of the world. Shange's rich and wondrous story of womanhood, art, and passionately-lived lives is written "with such exquisite care and beauty that anybody can relate to her message" (The New York Times).

Book Details

  • Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
  • Publish Date: Sep 28th, 2010
  • Pages: 224
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.40in - 5.50in - 0.70in - 0.60lb
  • EAN: 9780312541248
  • Categories: African American & Black - HistoricalWorld Literature - American - 21st CenturyLiterary

More books to explore

Book Cover for: Deacon King Kong (Oprah's Book Club), James McBride
Book Cover for: The Known World, Edward P. Jones
Book Cover for: Black Bottom Saints, Alice Randall
Book Cover for: The Rib King, Ladee Hubbard
Book Cover for: Conjure Women, Afia Atakora
Book Cover for: Let Us Descend, Jesmyn Ward
Book Cover for: Children of Sugarcane, Joanne Joseph
Book Cover for: Moonrise Over New Jessup, Jamila Minnicks
Book Cover for: The Broken River Tent, Mphuthumi Ntabeni
Book Cover for: Song of the Shank, Jeffery Renard Allen
Book Cover for: The Chaneysville Incident, David Bradley
Book Cover for: She Would Be King, Wayétu Moore
Book Cover for: 54 Miles, Leonard Pitts Jr
Book Cover for: Let Us Descend, Jesmyn Ward
Book Cover for: The Help, Kathryn Stockett

About the Author

Shange, Ntozake: - Ntozake Shange (1948-2018) was born in Trenton, New Jersey and educated at Barnard College and the University of Southern California, where she received an MA in American Studies. Her choreopoem for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf brought her Broadway success and international recognition. She is the author of an acclaimed adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children and has written three novels: Sassafrass, Cypress and Indigo; Betsey Brown; and Liliane. Her poetry includes nappy edges, A Daughter's Geography, Ridin' the Moon in Texas and From Okra to Greens. Her first collection of plays was published by Methuen Drama in 1978.

More books by Ntozake Shange

Book Cover for: For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf, Ntozake Shange
Book Cover for: Ellington Was Not a Street, Ntozake Shange
Book Cover for: Sing a Black Girl's Song: The Unpublished Work of Ntozake Shange, Ntozake Shange
Book Cover for: Coretta Scott, Ntozake Shange
Book Cover for: Betsey Brown, Ntozake Shange
Book Cover for: Wild Beauty: New and Selected Poems, Ntozake Shange
Book Cover for: Lost in Language & Sound: Or How I Found My Way to the Arts: Essays, Ntozake Shange
Book Cover for: Freedom's a-Callin Me, Ntozake Shange
Book Cover for: Some Sing, Some Cry, Ntozake Shange
Book Cover for: Dance We Do: A Poet Explores Black Dance, Ntozake Shange
Book Cover for: Liliane: Resurrection of the Daughter, Ntozake Shange
Book Cover for: If I Can Cook/You Know God Can: African American Food Memories, Meditations, and Recipes, Ntozake Shange
Book Cover for: Float Like a Butterfly, Ntozake Shange
Book Cover for: We Troubled the Waters, Ntozake Shange

What people are saying

instagram.com

Praise for this book

"Shange's wit, lyricism and fierceness are marvelous." --The New York Times

"A jubilant celebration of womanhood as moving as the moon...pure magic." --Kansas City Star

"A marvel... Languages--colloquial, established, lyric play together like the most lush chamber music, the coolest jazz, the brassiest marches, the hippest jug band... It leaves us filled with joy and yearning for more." --Philadelphia Inquirer

"Possessed of poetry, motion, and light... Shange's tale is poignant, surprising, and deep as she looks as the different worlds of women and their special places therein." --Publishers Weekly