Bessie Smith: A Poet’s Biography of a Blues Legend (1997) by Jackie Jay is a combination of history, poetry, prose and memoir.

Jackie Kay was poet laureate of Scotland from 2016 to 2021. She was born in 1961 to a Scottish mother and Nigerian father and adopted as a baby by white Scottish communists who loved blues and jazz music. For the young Jackie Kay, growing up Black in an all-white part of Glasglow, Bessie Smith was a source of comfort.

In her biography of Bessie Smith—who was orphaned at the age of 9 and singing on street corners before she became a star—Jackie Kay creates a moving, fascinating account of Bessie Smith’s extraordinary (and often difficult) life.

Bessie Smith: A Poet’s Biography of a Blues Legend was republished in 2021 by Vintage.