Best books… Jackie Kay

The poet and former Makar of Scotland chooses her favourite books. Her new collection, May Day (Picador £10.99), is out now. She will be appearing at the Charleston Festival on Thursday 16 May (charleston.org.uk)

by Toni Morrison, 1973 (Vintage £9.99). I love all of Toni Morrison’s extraordinary work, including her essays. But Sula is my comfort read. Every time I return to it, I marvel at the depiction of the friendship between Sula and Nel, at the creation of the place called the “bottom”, at the notion that without a creative outlet Sula’s creativity turned to destruction. So much packed in. So rich the prose.

The Black Unicorn by Audre Lorde, 1978 (Penguin £8.99). I return often to Audre Lorde – her essays, Zami, The

Cancer Journals – but this is the book that stole my heart. It is the most unified of all her collections of poetry and explores motherhood, sexuality and her African heritage in a startling way. Lorde was a true pioneer – we are all still playing catchup. “It is better to speak remembering, we were never meant to survive.”

Their Eyes Were Watching

God by Zora Neale Hurston, 1937 (Virago £9.99). A gem of a book from the Harlem Renaissance and, through its brilliant heroine Janie Crawford, the first novel I ever read that explores inner consciousness. Zora Neale Hurston is a fabulous short-story writer and was a well-known anthropologist. I love this book for the voice of the narrative; it is utterly compelling. It still feels as fresh as anything. Thank goodness Alice Walker came along and rescued Hurston from oblivion.

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin, 1963 (Penguin £8.99). James Baldwin is another writer whose voice rings across this century.

I love his novels, particularly Giovanni’s Room, but this non-fiction book of two red-hot essays is as pertinent today as it was when it was first published. It is urgent and clear. Baldwin’s complex understanding of racism in all its forms, and of society, still illuminates, revealing the world we live in now.