Winner of the American Book Award A classic of the Black Arts Movement brought back to life in a refreshed edition “A lion in literature’s forest. When she writes she roars, and when she sleeps other creatures walk gingerly.”—Maya Angelou Originally published in 1984, this collection of prose, prose poems, and lyric verses is as fresh and radical today as it was then. Sonia Sanchez, the premiere poet of the Black Arts Movement, shows the “razor blades” in clenched in her teeth in these powerful pieces.
Sonia Sanchez Book order
Sonia Sanchez is celebrated for her powerful and politically charged poetry, deeply rooted in the African American experience. Her work often explores themes of racial justice, identity, and cultural heritage with a direct and impactful voice. Sanchez's distinctive style employs vibrant language and rhythmic intensity, making her verses resonate as both literary art and a call to consciousness. She stands as a significant figure in American literature, known for her unwavering commitment to social change through her compelling writing.



- 2023
- 2021
Winner Gish Prize for Lifetime Achievement A representative collection of the life work of the much-honored poet and a founder of the Black Arts movement, spanning the 4 decades of her literary career. Gathering highlights from all of Sonia Sanchez’s poetry, this compilation is sure to inspire love and community engagement among her legions of fans. Beginning with her earliest work, including poems from her first volume, Homecoming (1969), through to 2019, the poet has collected her favorite work in all forms of verse, from Haiku to excerpts from book-length narratives. Her lifelong dedication to the causes of Black liberation, social equality, and women’s rights is evident throughout, as is her special attention to youth in poems addressed to children and young adults. As Maya Angelou so aptly put it: “Sonia Sanchez is a lion in literature’s forest. When she writes she roars, and when she sleeps other creatures walk gingerly.”
- 2011
Morning Haiku
- 144 pages
- 6 hours of reading
From a leading writer of the Black Arts Movement, poems of commemoration and loss for readers of all ages A collection of haiku that celebrates the gifts of life and mourns the deaths of revered African American figures in the worlds of music, literature, art, and activism.