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The Lost Songs of Nina Simone
Shonda Buchanan weaves a prism of language, sound and light around and through the life of concert pianist, singer and Civil Rights activist, the incomprehensible Nina Simone. With this book, Buchanan is declaring this The Century of the Black Woman, providing a realistic glimpse into not only Simone's life, but the lives of Black women in America, past and present, and their choices in a myopic, unforgiving country. A grandchild of enslaved Africans, American Indians and Irish migrants, born into poverty as Eunice Waymon in a traditionally large family, Nina Simone lived a life few Black American women lived during the Jim Crow era in the South, yet rose to ultimately impact the world with her creative genius and determined spirit. This book is both an emotional and historical excavation of an artist's life, capturing the rise and descent of that life, including Simone's family history, her childhood and young womanhood, as well as the addiction, mental health struggles and abuse. The Lost Songs of Nina Simone embodies the rich legacy --- the pleats between the cloth --- of Simone's artistry, beauty, self-immolation and rage.
- GenresMusicNonfictionPoetry
124 pages, Paperback
Published May 26, 2025
43 people want to read
About the author
Shonda Buchanan
8 books44 followersShonda Buchanan Biography
Pushcart nominee, USC Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities Fellow and Department of Cultural Affairs City of Los Angeles (COLA) Fellow, Shonda Buchanan is the author of five books, including the award-winning memoir, Black Indian. Board of Trustees President at Beyond Baroque, Shonda is the recipient of the Brody Arts Fellowship from the California Community Foundation, a Big Read grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and several Virginia Foundation for the Humanities grants.
A Sundance Institute Writing Arts fellow, a PEN Center Emerging Voices fellow, and Education Specialist for the Department of State’s U.S. Embassy, Shonda was also a finalist for the 2021 Mississippi Review poetry contest. Shonda’s memoir, Black Indian, won the 2020 Indie New Generation Book Award and was chosen by PBS NewsHour as a "top 20 books to read" to learn about institutional racism. Her first collection of poetry, Who’s Afraid of Black Indians? was nominated for the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and the Library of Virginia Book Awards.
A journalist for 25+ years, Shonda has published in the Los Angeles Times, the LA Weekly, AWP’s The Writer’s Chronicle, Los Angeles Times Magazine and Indian Country Today. An expert in African American cultural literature and issues, Shonda is published in Tab Journal, the Mississippi Review, Urban Voices: 51 Poems from 51 American Poets, Black Renaissance/Renaissance Noire, Art Meets Literature: An Undying Love Affair, Phati’tude Literary Magazine, Red Ink, Strange Cargo: An Emerging Voices Anthology, Step into a World: A Global Anthology of New Black Literature, Arise! Magazine, Def Jam Poetry’s Bum Rush the Page, Geography of Rage: Remembering the Los Angeles Riots of 1992 and Rivendell.
A professor at her alma mater, Loyola Marymount University, Shonda completed a collection of poetry about Nina Simone, a novel, and her second memoir. Descendant of African nations, the Coharie, Choctaw and Eastern Band Cherokee, and Europeans, Shonda lives and writes in Los Angeles on Tongva and Chumash land. For more information, visit www.shondabuchanan.com.
Pushcart nominee, USC Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities Fellow and Department of Cultural Affairs City of Los Angeles (COLA) Fellow, Shonda Buchanan is the author of five books, including the award-winning memoir, Black Indian. Board of Trustees President at Beyond Baroque, Shonda is the recipient of the Brody Arts Fellowship from the California Community Foundation, a Big Read grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and several Virginia Foundation for the Humanities grants.
A Sundance Institute Writing Arts fellow, a PEN Center Emerging Voices fellow, and Education Specialist for the Department of State’s U.S. Embassy, Shonda was also a finalist for the 2021 Mississippi Review poetry contest. Shonda’s memoir, Black Indian, won the 2020 Indie New Generation Book Award and was chosen by PBS NewsHour as a "top 20 books to read" to learn about institutional racism. Her first collection of poetry, Who’s Afraid of Black Indians? was nominated for the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and the Library of Virginia Book Awards.
A journalist for 25+ years, Shonda has published in the Los Angeles Times, the LA Weekly, AWP’s The Writer’s Chronicle, Los Angeles Times Magazine and Indian Country Today. An expert in African American cultural literature and issues, Shonda is published in Tab Journal, the Mississippi Review, Urban Voices: 51 Poems from 51 American Poets, Black Renaissance/Renaissance Noire, Art Meets Literature: An Undying Love Affair, Phati’tude Literary Magazine, Red Ink, Strange Cargo: An Emerging Voices Anthology, Step into a World: A Global Anthology of New Black Literature, Arise! Magazine, Def Jam Poetry’s Bum Rush the Page, Geography of Rage: Remembering the Los Angeles Riots of 1992 and Rivendell.
A professor at her alma mater, Loyola Marymount University, Shonda completed a collection of poetry about Nina Simone, a novel, and her second memoir. Descendant of African nations, the Coharie, Choctaw and Eastern Band Cherokee, and Europeans, Shonda lives and writes in Los Angeles on Tongva and Chumash land. For more information, visit www.shondabuchanan.com.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 15, 2025
Shonda Buchanan is a friend and a mentor through my Master of Fine Arts program. As she was writing this book, she shared her progress and poems. It is a delight to hold the final product.
Early in her adult life, Shonda discovered the work of Nina Simone in a knock-off sale bin. This discovery sent Shonda on a twenty-five-year search to learn about the person and the voice that spoke to her soul.
This collection of poetry is Shonda’s response to the life and work of Nina Simone. Part biography, part artistic review, part cultural connections, these poems take the reader through the beautiful but tragic world Nina experienced.
It is harsh.And it is sweet. And always represents the search of one artist to sing with another.
Come, sing with these two artists.
Early in her adult life, Shonda discovered the work of Nina Simone in a knock-off sale bin. This discovery sent Shonda on a twenty-five-year search to learn about the person and the voice that spoke to her soul.
This collection of poetry is Shonda’s response to the life and work of Nina Simone. Part biography, part artistic review, part cultural connections, these poems take the reader through the beautiful but tragic world Nina experienced.
It is harsh.And it is sweet. And always represents the search of one artist to sing with another.
Come, sing with these two artists.
January 11, 2026
A stunning work.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews