Sonia Sanchez

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. She has been influential to other African-American poets, including Krista Franklin. Sanchez is a member of The Wintergreen Women Writers Collective.

Sonia Sanchez studied at Howard University and Hunter College. The recorded working language is English. Places of work recorded in the authority are Philadelphia. Employment is recorded with Temple University and University of Pittsburgh. Distinctions recorded are American Book Awards, Langston Hughes Medal, Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards and Shelley Memorial Award.

• Name — Sonia Sanchez • Birth Name — Wilsonia Benita Driver • Born — 9 September 1934 • Birthplace — Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. • Occupation — * Poet • educator • columnist • dramatist • essayist • Education — Hunter College (BA) New York University • Awards — P.E.N. Writing Award (1969) Robert Frost Medal (2001) Wallace Stevens Award (2018) • Children — 3 • Website — soniasanchez.net

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. The death of her grandmother proved to be a trying time in her life, and Sanchez developed a stutter, which contributed to her becoming introverted. However, her stutter only caused her to read more and more and pay close attention to language and its sounds. 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". Sanchez earned a BA degree in political science in 1955 from Hunter College. Sanchez pursued post-graduate studies at New York University (NYU), working closely with Louise Bogan. During her time at NYU, she formed a writers' workshop in Greenwich Village, where the "Broadside Quartet" was born. The "Broadside Quartet" included other prominent Black Arts Movement artists such as Haki Madhubuti, Nikki Giovanni and Etheridge Knight. These young poets were introduced and promoted by Dudley Randall, an established poet and publisher. Although her first marriage to Albert Sanchez did not last, Sonia Sanchez would retain her professional name. She and Albert had one daughter named Anita. She later married Etheridge Knight, and had twin sons named Morani Neusi and Mungu Neusi, but they divorced after two years. Motherhood heavily influenced the motifs of her poetry in the 1970s, with the bonds between mother and child emerging as a key theme. She also has three grandchildren.

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. She wrote many plays and books that had to do with the struggles and lives of Black America. Among her plays are Sister Son/ji, which was first produced Off-Broadway at the New York Shakespeare Festival Public Theater in 1972; Uh, Huh: But How Do it Free us?, staged in Chicago at the Northwestern University Theatre in 1975, and Malcolm Man/Don't Live Here No Mo’, first produced in 1979 at the ASCOM Community Center in Philadelphia. 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.

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.

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 first collection of poems, Homecoming (1969), is known for its blues influences in both form and content. The collection describes both the struggle of defining Black identity in the United States as well as the many causes for celebration Sanchez sees in Black culture. 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. Though still emphasizing what she sees as the need for revolutionary cultural change, Sanchez's later works, such as I've Been a Woman (1978), Homegirls and Handgrenades (1985), and Under a Soprano Sky (1987), tend to focus less on separatist themes (like those of Malcolm X), and more on themes of love, community, and empowerment. She continues to explores the haiku, tanka, and sonku forms, as well as blues-influenced rhythms. Later works continue her experiments with forms such as the epic in Does Your House Have Lions? (1997), an emotional account of her brother's deadly struggle with AIDS, and the haiku in Morning Haiku (2010). In addition to her poetry, Sanchez's contributions to the Black Arts Movement included drama and prose. She began writing plays while in San Francisco in the 1960s. Several of her plays challenge the masculinist spirit of the movement, focusing on strong female protagonists. Sanchez has been recognized as a pioneering champion of Black feminism.

Her more recent contemporary endeavors include a spoken-word interlude on "Hope is an Open Window", a song co-written by Diana Ross from her 1998 album Every Day is a New Day. The song is featured as the sound bed for a tribute video to 9/11 that can be viewed on YouTube. Sanchez is currently among 20 African-American women to be a part of Freedom's Sisters, a mobile exhibition initiated by the Cincinnati Museum Center and the Smithsonian Institution. Sanchez became Philadelphia's first Poet Laureate, after being appointed by Mayor Michael Nutter. She served in that position from 2012 to 2014. 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.

Sonia Sanchez was recorded at birth as Wilsonia Bonita Driver. The authorities additionally record the headings Wilsonia Driver, Sonia Sánchez and Sonja Sanchez. Her recorded language was English. She was the child of Wilson L.

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 *