Hunter College will host legendary poet and alumna Sonia Sanchez ’55 on December 9 to celebrate her extraordinary career and recent 90th birthday.
“An Evening with Sonia Sanchez” will feature a reading from the poet and tributes from renowned verse writers and will take place at 6:30 pm at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute. It is part of the American Voices lecture symposium series, directed by Hunter English Professor Paul Alexander.
“Sonia Sanchez is a trailblazer whose impact on American literature is immeasurable,” Alexander said. “Her journey began right here at Hunter, and we are honored to welcome her back to celebrate her extraordinary life and career.”
A pioneering figure in the Black Arts Movement, Sanchez for decades has captivated audiences with her powerful poetry, plays, and essays. Her work has been recognized with some of literature’s most important awards, including the American Book Award, the Langston Hughes Medal, and the Robert Frost Medal. Sanchez is also a Hunter Hall of Famer and received an honorary doctor of humane letters from Hunter in 2007.
Hunter College President Nancy Cantor, who will host the tribute, said that Sanchez’s work had made intellectual and cultural space for thinkers for more than half a century.
“Sonia Sanchez has given generations of not just poets, but thinkers across the disciplines, a language for telling their truths,” Cantor said. “Collectively, her works of poetry and her leadership in the movement that gave us Black Studies have created a cultural watershed for voices and ideas that continue to open our ears, eyes, minds, and hearts. It is a profound honor to welcome Sonia home to Hunter, where the newest generation of thinkers is building upon her legacy.”
The poets who will offer their insights and appreciation of Sanchez at the tribute include:
- Ama Birch, Hunter College professor and author of several collections, including Sonnet Boom!
- Rachel Eliza Griffiths, author of Mule & Pear and Seeing the Body, and winner of the 2021 Hurston-Wright Legacy Award in Poetry.
- Quincy Troupe, a celebrated author whose works includes collaborations with Miles Davis and Chris Gardner and who is the recipient of the American Book Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement.
Sanchez will read after the tributes.
To register for this event, please RSVP using this form.
Previous events in the series have featured Sylvia Plath, Billie Holiday, and Sandra Cisneros.
The event will be held in person at Roosevelt House and online via Zoom. The Zoom link will be provided to registered attendees upon RSVP.
Roosevelt House is located at 47-49 East 65th St. between Park and Madison avenues.
Please note, as a special feature to this event, the Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Gallery in Hunter College’s West Building lobby will be open at special hours (4–6 pm) on that Monday, Dec. 9. The current exhibit is devoted to Acts of Art, a gallery by and for Black artists that operated in Greenwich Village from 1969 to 1975. Sonia Sanchez has read at the gallery and has ties to at least a couple of the artists represented in the Hunter exhibition. All are invited to view this exhibition.
