News Release
September 2003

Poet Sekou Sundiata at Moravian College – October 3

Award-winning poet uses his art to comment on the life and times of our culture

(Bethlehem, Pennsylvania)— Poet Sekou Sundiata will be speaking at Moravian College on Friday, October 3 from 11:45 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the Snyder Room of the Haupert Union Building. Students will bring their writings for a poetry circle. Sundiata uses his poetry to comment on the life and times of our culture. Through print, performance, music, and theater, Sundiata has gained praise for his blend of soul, jazz, and hip-hops grooves with political insight, humor, and rhythmic speech.

Sundiata is the recipient of a New York State Foundation for the Arts Fellowship and the Creative Artists Public Service Fellowship. He has taught many creative writing classes at the New School for Social Research and regularly performs and records with artists Craig Harris and Vernon Reid. His most recent volume of poetry, Dance and Be Still, combines poems from his two CD collections, Long-story Short and The Blue Oneness of Dreams.

Sundiata came alive during the 1960s and 1970s Black Arts Movement, the only American literary movement to advance "social engagement" as a result of its aesthetic. In his most recent work, Blessing the Boats, Sundiata explores and shows the journey of a poet during three years as well as the triumphs and struggles encountered along the way. In this play, he has created a multi-dimensional work of art that speaks to the complex and varied textures of human experience.

The Haupert Union Building is located at the corner of Monocacy and Locusts streets in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. For more information, contract Moravian’s Office of Multicultural Affairs at 610-861-7847.