Renowned writer and poet Sonia Sanchez was the designated speaker for this year’s Jean Burden Poetry Reading at Cal State L.A. (Courtesy: Emilio Flores/Cal State L.A.)
A gathering of more than a hundred people filled Cal State L.A.’s Annenberg Complex Lecture Hall Thursday, May 14, to hear from renowned writer, poet, playwright and activist Sonia Sanchez.
“Audience members arrived early for this year’s Jean Burden Poetry Reading, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights and Black Arts movements,” said Professor Lauri Ramey, director of Center for Contemporary Poetry and Poetics at Cal State L.A. “That’s the level of passionate devotion that dedicated readers have for Sonia Sanchez. They consider her a guiding spirit, role model, and force for good in their lives.”
Ramey added, “Sanchez is a poet who was loved, admired and respected by the late Jean Burden. Like Jean Burden, Sonia Sanchez is a strong and inspiring woman poet and teacher whose passions are nature, universal humanity, and activism.”
Sanchez is one of the legendary figures of the Black Arts Movement, and her works have contributed to the awakening of black consciousness. The Black Arts Movement emerged amid the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and increased awareness of African American pride, culture and heritage.
Sanchez opened the reading with a powerful chanted invocation by calling out names to honor those people who had been important in her life. This powerful rhythmic recitation—equal parts memory, history, poetry and music—engaged the interactive audience who reacted throughout with nods, “amens,” and finger snaps.
Acting on her belief that “Artists have got to humanize people,” Sanchez’s opening comments emphasized the need for young people to correct today’s environmental and social problems, and work together to make the world “a safe place with justice for everyone.”
She also provided the great gift of a retrospective reading, which showcased an overview of her wide range of styles, forms and themes from her earliest work to her more recent publications. To introduce her poems, she generously and vulnerably discussed her relationship with her father; her brother’s challenges in being gay and his death from AIDS; and the significance and benefits of the haiku form as “a space where there is no greed and no anger.” The event concluded with a book sale and signing.
Sanchez is the author of more than 20 books and poetry collections, and she is a contributing editor to Black Scholar and The Journal of African Studies. In December 2011, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter selected Sanchez as Philadelphia’s first Poet Laureate, calling her “the longtime conscience of the city.” She was the first Presidential Fellow at Temple University and held the Laura Carnell Chair in English at the university. She is the recipient of the 2004 Harper Lee Award, and the 2006 National Visionary Leadership Award. Sanchez is one of 20 African American women featured in “Freedom Sisters,” a traveling interactive exhibition created by the Cincinnati Museum Center and Smithsonian Institution.
