Celebrating Sonia Sanchez on her Eightieth Birthday

Celebrating Sonia Sanchez on her Eightieth Birthday
featuring 
Sonia Sanchez
and
Jessica Care Moore, internationally renowned poet, publisher, 
playwright, performance artist,

Now, a tribute to the beloved world renowned poet, humanitarian, scholar, and activist Sonia Sanchez on her eightieth birthday with Jessica Care Moore, and a special message to all of us from Sonia Sanchez  

Poet, playwright, mother, scholar, lecturer and peace activist, Sonia Sanchez is a renowned force of nature respected in literary and activist communities all over the world and by people of all races, identities, ages & backgrounds. In 2011, Sanchez was selected as the first poet laureate of Philadelphia. She is the author of more than 20 books, and has been awarded countless awards and honors, including the 1985 American Book Award for Homegirls and Handgrenades.  She is also the Poetry Society of America’s 2001 
Robert Frost Medalist. She was the first Presidential Fellow at Temple University and she held the Laura Carnell Chair in English at the university. She came of age in NYC during the Black Arts and Black Power Movements of the 1960s and ’70s. Currently based in Philadelphia, the former Harlemite is regarded as the Godmother of the Black Arts Movement. The late Maya Angelou heralded her as “a lion in literature’s forest.” Today’s poets, writers, hip-hop artists, grassroots activists, and public servants alike point to her work as their guiding light. “She opened the door for everything we do,” says hip-hop artist Talib Kweli.

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