Ntozake Shange and Jack Kerouac

You've probably been wondering about the connection between poet/playwright Ntozake Shange (she wrote For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf), who died recently, and Jack Kerouac. Or maybe you haven't, but remember: everything connects to Jack Kerouac.

I was reading a remembrance piece about Ntozake in the San Francisco Chronicle and came across this line:

In addition to her well-known connections to the Black Arts Movement, Shange had Bay Area influences, including the Beats, the first artists she heard combining music and poetry . . . .

Click here for a link to the article.

So the Kerouac connection is clear: Jack and his Beat compatriots were an influence on Ntozake. We'll probably learn more about those connections when Gerald Nicosia finishes the biography he has been working on about her.




Here is the article link for future reference: https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/theater/remembering-for-colored-girls-playwright-ntozake-shange-1948-2018