In the following composite interview, Shange espouses her beliefs on what makes a poet and how geography influences poetic development.

One of the most articulate Black American artists to have emerged in the last few years, Ntozake Shange began the process of identifying and fulfilling her many talents in an academic milieu. An honors graduate of the American Studies program at Barnard in 1970, an NDEA Fellow at the University of Southern California, where she earned an M.A. degree in American Studies in 1973, Shange has lectured or taught at a number of colleges and universities, such as Brown, C.C.N.Y., Douglass, Howard, N.Y.U., Sonoma State, and Yale. Her book-length publications include For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf (1975, 1977), Sassafrass: a Novella (1976), Nappy Edges (1978), and 8 Pieces & 'A Photograph' (1979). Individual poems, essays, and short stories of hers have appeared in...