Poet and Playwright Ntozake Shange Dies at 70

Ntozake Shange, an award-winning poet, playwright, performer, novelist and educator, died on Saturday at the age of 70. Most well-known for her play, “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf,” much of her work centered around feminism and Blackness.

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On her official Twitter account, Shange’s family announced she had died peacefully in her sleep. In 2011, after experiencing two strokes, she was diagnosed with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) — “a neurological disorder characterized by progressive weakness and impaired sensory function in the legs and arms.”

After years of physical therapy, she was able to publish her last book of poetry in 2017, entitled “Wild Beauty.”

To our extended family and friends, it is with sorrow that we inform you that our loved one, Ntozake Shange, passed away peacefully in her sleep in the early morning of October 27, 2018. Memorial information / details will follow at a later date.
The family of Ntozake Shange

— Ntozake Shange (@NtozakeShange1) October 27, 2018

Shange lived with bipolar disorder and survived multiple suicide attempts. In a speech she gave about mental health in 2010, she said she first noticed something was “wrong” when, between the ages of 10 and 13, she started staying up for days at a time. She didn’t get help from a mental health professional until college.

She called living with a mental illness “a lifetime commitment to oneself.”

People took to Twitter to share their appreciation of Shange’s work, including “Selma” director Ava DuVernay.

“Where there is a woman there is magic. If there is a moon falling from her mouth, she is a woman who knows her magic. She can share or not share her powers. This woman is a consort of the spirits.“ Thank you, Ntozake Shange. Rest now, Queen.

— Ava DuVernay (@ava) October 28, 2018

Ntozake Shange was the kind of person I mean when I say that working across form, boundary & genre isn’t new, but something we learned from our forebears, something we’ve done for a long time. She gave us a map to Black feminism, to art that laughs at borders. I’m grateful & sad.

— wikipedia brown ||| abolish ICE. (@eveewing) October 28, 2018

It’s impossible to articulate what Ntozake Shange’s words meant to my life, to my growth, to my soul.

I’m heartbroken.

“i found god in myself
and i loved her
i loved her fiercely”

Thank you Ntozake Shange.
Rest in Power. pic.twitter.com/ZOrzbt5BgA

— Amanda Parris (@amanda_parris) October 28, 2018

When I first found the words of Ntozake Shange, it was revelatory, it gave me a way forward and a better sense of myself. So thankful for the words that she gave us all. Rest well.

— Blair LM Kelley (@profblmkelley) October 27, 2018

Thank you for your work, Shange. Our thoughts are with your friends, family and fans.