Don't Explain: A Song of Billie Holiday

by Alexis De Veaux

Spotlights the celebrated jazz singer's struggle against loneliness, racism, jealousy, and heroin

Genres: Poetry

151 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Alexis De Veaux is a black queer feminist independent scholar whose work is published in six languages and internationally known. She is the author of several books and her work is anthologized in numerous collections. The recipient of many honors and awards, Alexis penned Warrior Poet (WW Norton, 2004), the first biography of the late lesbian poet activist, Audre Lorde; and was tenured faculty at the University at Buffalo, Department of Women’s Studies, for more than twenty years, mentoring a new generation of interdisciplinary scholars of black, feminist, and queer studies. She has won two Lambda Literary Awards; one for her Lorde biography (2005) and one for her novel, Yabo (2015).

Reviews

[Patrice · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sad but powerful read!

[Meen]

Just reading the intro and first chapter of her Audre Lorde bio, I have fallen hard for this meticulous, reflective writer. This book is a prose poem about Billie Holiday's life. I am buying it tout de suite!