The award-winning poet, Civil Rights activist and Black Arts Movement leader talks about her life and literary career in an intimate conversation presented by PBS Books
Watch this Thursday at 8 p.m. on Facebook Live
As PBS Books continues highlighting Trailing Blazing American women, its next conversation – this Thursday at 8 p.m. – is with none other than Sonia Sanchez.
Few women have carved more creative trails or set hotter literary blazes than this great American poet and author. A leader of the Black Arts Movement, she has written more than a dozen books of poetry as well as essays, plays and children’s books.
She is known as the first poet to use urban Black English in written form, using rhythm to change the world of poetry. Besides her prowess as a writer, she is recognized for her years of activity in the Civil Rights Movement.
Sanchez has won numerous awards for her writing, including most recently the Anisfield-Wolf Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019.
Maya Angelou had this to say about her: “Sonia
Sanchez is a lion in literature’s forest. When she writes she roars, and
when she sleeps other creatures walk gingerly.”
For this event, Sanchez will be speaking with American Library Association's Executive Director Tracie Hall, a poet, fiction writer and playwright herself. Hall has also been a strong voice for diversity in the library profession.
Viewers can view the conversation on Facebook Live and YouTube Live. For a more intimate look and the opportunity to ask chat questions, they can also join via Zoom (passcode: 114304).
The PBS Books Trailblazing American Women Writers Project’s goal is to highlight incredible women authors and their accomplishments as part of our ongoing celebration of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, supported in part by a contribution from the National Endowment for the Arts. PBS Books will release a video highlighting our honored guest after the event to further promote her life and work.
We hope to use technology and media to increase access to her work, reach new audiences and encourage dialogue about these writers while inspiring young trailblazers.
This program is also part of PBS Books’ continuing
partnership with ASALH (the Association for the Study of African
American Life and History), as the two organizations celebrate the work
and accomplishments of African American authors
and foster dialogue about Black contributions to arts and contemporary
thought in communities across the nation.
President and CEO - Detroit Public Television
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