BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Sonia Sanchez was born Wilsonia Bonita Driver in Birmingham, Alabama on September 9, 1934. Sanchez's mother died when she was one so Sonia and her sister lived with different relatives until she was nine years old. Her father, a musician, moved the family to Harlem. Sanchez describes herself as having been a shy child with a stutter. In time she would become a powerful speaker.

Sanchez recieved a BA from Hunter College in 1955 and pursued post-graduate study at New York University. During the 1960s she became a writer and a political activist. She married Etheridge Knight and had three children; they later divorced. In 1972 Sanchez joined the Nation of Islam. However, she left in 1975 because some of her views conflicted with the Nation of Islam's position on women's roles.

A tireless activist, Sanchez worked in California to bring black studies programs into the school curriculum. She is a member of the Plowshares, the Brandywine Peace Community and MADRE; and supports MOMS in Alabama and the National Black United Front.

Having taught at the University of Pittsburgh, Rutgers University, The Manhattan Community College of CUNY; The City College of CUNY, Amherst College, and the University of Pennsylvania, Ms. Sanchez is currently a member of the faculty at Temple University and teaches Black American Literature and Creative Writing.

She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Pen Writing Award, the Lucretia Mott Award, an NEA award, and an Academy of Arts and Letter Award to support her writing. In 1972 she recieved an honorary PhD from Wilberforce University. As well as being a dramatist, Sanchez is a prolific poet and has written numerous books of poetry, including homegirls & handgrenades which won the American Book Award in 1985.

PLAYS

The Bronx is Next-1970

First produced in New York at Theater Black.

Sista Son/Ji-1972

First produced as part of "Black Visions: at the New York Shakespeare Festival Public Theatre.

Uh Huh, But How Do It Free Us?-1975

First produced in Chicago at Northwestern University.

Malcolm Man/Don't Live Here No More-1979

First produced in Philadelphia at the Ascom Community Center.

I'm Black When I'm Singing, I'm Blue When I Ain't-1982

First produced in Atlanta at NIC Theatre.

AWARDS

homegirls and handgrenades

American Book Award 1985

CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL RESOURCES

For full citations of the books listed, follow links to the Resources Page.

Books marked with book covers or a are linked to Amazon.com records.

A Bibliographical Guide to African-American Women Writers

Black American Writers

Black American Playwrights

Black Playwrights

Black Women Writers at Work

Broadside Memories

Contemporary African American Female Playwrights

Contemporary Black American Playwrights and their Plays

Contemporary Literary Criticism v.5

Dictionary of Black Theatre

Dictionary of Literary Biography v.41

Drumvoices

The Folk Roots of Contemporary Afro-American Poetry

Ijala: Sonia Sanchez and the African Poetic Tradition

Modern Black Poets

Oxford Companion to African American Literature

The Second Black Renaissance

Women Poets of the World

SELECTED ARTICLES ABOUT THE AUTHOR