News Release
March 2002
(Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) - Moravian College will celebrate
Women's History Month with the first annual Poetry Jazz Café
featuring Award-winning poet, playwright, and children's book author
Sonia Sanchez and jazz flutist Keith Marks and Company. The Poetry Jazz
Café will be held on Thursday, March 21st at 8:00 p.m. in the
Pavilion, Haupert Union Building. Admission is free and open to the
public.
Sanchez began teaching at Temple University in 1977 and
was Laura Carnell Professor of English and Women's Studies there until
she retired in 1999. Her honors include awards from the National Black
Caucus of State Legislators, the Pennsylvania Coalition of 100 Black
Women, and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. She
was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle award in 1998 and won
an American Book Award for Homegirls and Handgrenades in 1984. Sanchez
will read from a variety of her works including, Shake Loose My Skin,
a 30-year retrospective of her poetry, and will sign books after the
reading. Sharing the cabaret evening with her will be Keith Marks &
Company.
Marks has forged a unique and commanding rhythmic voice
with the flute. His material reflects a broad background ranging from
soul favorites, through Caribbean styles and jazz, to a funky dance
version of the South African national anthem. He has played and recorded
with jazz greats, and started his own quartet in 1974. After a series
of successful club appearances, he began to seek venues where his music
could educate, heal and communicate to a broader audience. His recent
album entitled In It is accompanied by some of New York's finest studio
musicians, including the rhythm section from the Apollo Theater.
