Sonia Sanchez

Sonia Sanchez (born Wilsonia Benita Driver; September 9, 1934) is an American poet, writer, and professor. She was a leading figure in the Black Arts Movement and has written more than a dozen books of poetry, as well as short stories, critical essays, plays, and children's books. In the 1960s, Sanchez released poems in periodicals targeted towards African-American audiences, and published her debut collection, Homecoming, in 1969. In 1993, she received a Pew Fellowship in the Arts, and in 2001 was awarded the Robert Frost Medal for her contributions to the canon of American poetry.

Early life Sanchez was born in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, on September 9, 1934, to Wilson L. Driver and Lena Jones Driver. Her mother died when Sanchez was only one year old, so she spent several years being shuttled back and forth among relatives. One of those was her grandmother, who died when Sanchez was six years old.

In 1943, Sanchez moved to Harlem in New York City to live with her father (a school teacher), her sister, and her stepmother, who was her father's third wife. When in Harlem, she learned to manage her stutter and excelled in school, finding her poetic voice, which later emerged during her studies at Hunter College. Sanchez focused on the sound of her poetry, admitting to always reading it aloud, and received praise for her use of the full range of African and African-American vocal resources. She is known for her sonic range and dynamic public readings. She now terms herself an "ordained stutterer". She viewed the discipline of Black Studies as both a new platform for the study of race and a challenge to the institutional biases of American universities. These efforts are clearly in line with the goals of the Black Arts Movement, and she was a known Black feminist. Sanchez was the first Presidential Fellow at Temple University, where she began working in 1977. There, she held the Laura Carnell chair until her retirement in 1999. She is currently a poet-in-residence at Temple University. She has read her poetry in Africa, the Caribbean, China, Australia, Europe, Nicaragua, and Canada.

Activism Sanchez supported the National Black United Front and was a very influential part of the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Arts Movement. In the early 1960s, Sanchez became a member of CORE (Congress for Racial Equality), where she met Malcolm X. Though she was originally an integrationist in her thinking, after hearing Malcolm X speak Sanchez became more separatist in her thinking and focused more on her Black heritage and identity.

In 1972, Sanchez joined the Nation of Islam, during which time she published A Blues Book for Blue Black Magical Women (1974), but she left the organization after three years, in 1975 because her views on women's rights conflicted with the Nation's. She continues to advocate for the rights of oppressed women and minority groups.

Sanchez has edited two anthologies of Black literature: We Be Word Sorcerers: 25 Stories by Black Americans (1974) and 360° of Blackness Coming at You (1999). She is also committed to a variety of activist causes, including the Brandywine Peace Community, MADRE, and Plowshares.

Black Arts Movement The aim of the Black Arts Movement was a renewal of Black will, insight, energy, and awareness. Sanchez published poetry and essays in numerous periodicals in the 1960s, including The Liberator, Negro Digest, and Black Dialogue. Her writing established her importance as a political thinker to the "black aesthetic" program. Sanchez gained a reputation as an important voice in the Black Arts Movement after publishing the book of poems Homecoming in 1969. This collection and her second in 1970, titled We a BaddDDD People, demonstrated her use of experimental poetic forms to discuss the development of Black nationalism and identity.

Writing Style and Themes Sanchez is known for her innovative melding of musical formats—such as the blues—and traditional poetic formats such as haiku and tanka. She also uses spelling to celebrate the unique sound of Black English, for which she gives credit to poets such as Langston Hughes and Sterling Brown. Her second book, We a BaddDDD People (1970), solidifies her contribution to the Black Arts Movement aesthetic by focusing on the everyday lives of Black people. These poems make use of urban Black vernacular, experimental punctuation, spelling, and spacing, and the performative quality of jazz.

In 2013, Sanchez headlined the 17th annual Poetry Ink, at which she read her poem "Under a Soprano Sky".

BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez, a documentary film by Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater and Sabrina Schmidt Gordon spotlighting Sanchez's work, career, influence and life story, was released in 2015, when it was shown at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival The film premiered in the UK on June 22, 2016, at Rivington Place, London.

Awards In 1969, Sanchez was awarded the P.E.N. Writing Award. She was awarded the National Education Association Award 1977–1988. She won the National Academy and Arts Award and the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship Award in 1978–79. In 1985, she received the American Book Award for Homegirls and Handgrenades. She has also been awarded the Community Service Award from the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, the Lucretia Mott Award, the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Humanities, and the Peace and Freedom Award from the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, as well as the 1999 Langston Hughes Poetry Award, the 2001 Robert Frost Medal, the 2004 Harper Lee Award, and the 2006 National Visionary Leadership Award. In 2009, she received the Robert Creeley Award, from the Robert Creeley Foundation.

In 2017, Sanchez was honored at the 16th Annual Dr. Betty Shabazz Awards in a ceremony held on June 29 at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Harlem.

In 2018, she won the Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets for proven mastery of the art of poetry.

At the 84th Annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards ceremony on September 26, 2019, Sanchez was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Cleveland Foundation.

In October 2021, Sanchez was awarded the 28th annual Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize "in recognition of her ongoing achievements in inspiring change through the power of the word."

In 2022, Sanchez was awarded The Edward MacDowell Medal by The MacDowell Colony for outstanding contributions to American culture.

Selected bibliography Poetry Homecoming, Broadside Press, 1969 We a BaddDDD People (1970), Broadside Press, 1973 Love Poems, Third Press, 1973 A Blues Book for a Blue Black Magic Woman, Broadside Press, 1974 Autumn Blues: New Poems, Africa World Press, 1994, Continuous Fire: A Collection of Poetry, 1994, Shake Down Memory: A Collection of Political Essays and Speeches, Africa World Press, 1991, It's a New Day: Poems for Young Brothas and Sistuhs (1971) Homegirls and Handgrenades (1985) (reprint White Pine Press, 2007, ) Under a Soprano Sky, Africa World Press, 1987, I've Been a Woman: New and Selected Poems, Third World Press, 1985, Wounded in the House of a Friend, Beacon Press, 1995, Does Your House Have Lions?, Beacon Press, 1997, Like the Singing Coming Off the Drums, Beacon Press, 1998,

Collected Poems, Beacon Press, 2021,

Plays Black Cats and Uneasy Landings (1995) I'm Black When I'm Singing, I'm Blue When I Ain't (1982) The Bronx is Next (1970) Sista Son/Ji (1972) Uh Huh, But How Do It Free Us? (1975) Malcolm Man/Don't Live Here No More (1979) I'm Black When I'm Singing, I'm Blue When I Ain't and Other Plays (Duke University Press, 2010)

Short-story collections A Sound Investment and Other Stories (1979)

Children's books It's a New Day (1971) A Sound Investment The Adventures of Fat Head, Small Head, and Square Head, The Third Press, 1973,

Anthologies (Editor) We Be Word Sorcerers: 25 Stories by Black Americans (1974) (Editor) 360 Degrees of Blackness Coming at You! (1999) (Contributor) Margaret Busby, ed. (1992), Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present. (Contributor) (Contributor) (Contributor)

Interviews

Discography A Sun Lady for All Seasons Reads Her Poetry (Folkways Records, 1971) Every Tone a Testimony (Smithsonian Folkways, 2001)