The title, Hoe het voelt om van kleur te zijn, does not very well convey the contents of this book, as you get more than just the essay written by Zora Neale Hurston. Then, too, it is with good reason that the title of her essay is printed on the cover, and Hurston is catalogued as the main author.

That essays really blows you away. On just eight and a half page, in this booklet of 85 pages. The essay is so honest, so powerful and still so optimistic. It is written from strength. The English title is How it Feels to be Colored Me and the difference with the translated title is the omission of the word "Me" which seems to make a world of difference, between speaking with Pride and complaining.

For, the essays is preceded by a correspondence between two coloured authors, the American writer and poet Kristina Kay Robinson (1984) and the Dutch writer Simone Atangana Bekono (1991). Perhaps specifically for this publication, they exchanged a few letters, writing about what it means to be of colour. Although these two writers were selected by the editor, Dean Bowen, it is remarkable that this is apparently done without careful consideration of their backgrounds, because although both are women of colour in some sense, I suppose growing up as a descendant of people who were made slaves in the United States is really a very different background from having an African father, so the question is whether they are really talking about the same thing. At least, they seem to be able to find common ground.

On the other hand, there is a stark contrast with the essay by Zora Neale Hurston which was written from strength, while the two contemporary writers still seem to struggle with the way this issue appears in the world today. ( )

I can only feel admiration for Zora Neale Hurston, who experienced discrimination and racism and who lost her mother but still chose to take a positive outlook on life. It couldn't have been easy - in fact fact, it was probably very difficult for her to do - but she did it anyway because she knew that allowing hate and violence to reign inside her would only cause her own destruction in the end. ( )