Emory Report homepage  

October 15, 2007
Black Arts Movement founders to share stories through poetry

The Raymond Danowski Poetry Library Reading Series presents a poetry reading by poet and literary activist Sonia Sanchez at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 16, in the Jones Room, Woodruff Library. A reception and book signing will follow the reading.

Sanchez has won the American Book Award and the Robert Frost Medal, and held a Pew Fellowship in the Arts. Influenced by jazz, the blues and the oral tradition, Sanchez’s poetry readings and performances have inspired generations of poets and audiences alike. A founder of the Black Arts Movement, Sanchez is the author of more than 16 books. “Does Your House Have Lions?” was nominated for both the NAACP Image and National Book Critics Circle Award.

Sanchez will also participate in a talk, “Origins and Legacy of the Black Arts Movement,” on Wednesday, Oct. 17 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. in Goizueta Business School, Room W 525. Sanchez and Edward Spriggs, two of the principal founders of the movement, will discuss its origins in conversation with the curator of the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library, Kevin Young.

A phenomenon of the 1960s and 1970s, the Black Arts Movement produced an explosion of poetry, drama, art and music created within and for the African American community. Through journals such as Black Dialogue, Soulbook, Liberator and Journal of Black Poetry, a voice and venue were given to hundreds of young writers and artists.

Like Sanchez, Spriggs had a long association with the Black Arts Movement as an artist, writer, publisher and filmmaker. He has directed the Studio Museum in Harlem, initiated the Atlanta African Film Society and the Hoyt Fuller Film Festival, and is founding director emeritus of Hammonds House Galleries in Atlanta.

“Origins and Legacy of the Black Arts Movement” is sponsored by the African American Studies Department, Women’s Studies Department, Emory’s Creative Writing Program and the Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library. Both events are free and open to the public. For more information, contact Donna Bradley at 404-727-7620.

TOP