Poet will headline fourth annual Poetry, Music, Dance Celebration

World-renowned poet Sonia Sanchez, author of more than 15 books, including "Shake Loose My Skin: New and Selected Poems," will headline the fourth annual Buffalo/Williamsville Poetry, Music, Dance Celebration at Kleinhans Music Hall, at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 26.

Sanchez's readings will be just one of the many displays of artistic creativity as the Celebration brings students from Buffalo and Williamsville school districts together to collaborate in displaying their creativity.

The event won acclaim from the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors through a recent $70,000 grant from the New York State Music Fund.

Sanchez is a poet, activist and teacher whose work addresses the history of African-Americans from slavery to modern periods of oppression. She is a master of haiku, tanka, and villanelle, reconstructing them to create her distinctive poetic style that mixes street speech with sophisticated formality.

Having worked with Malcolm X in the New York activist group CORE, Sanchez refers to him and Martin Luther King Jr. as her influencers.

Sanchez is a 2001 recipient of the Robert Frost Medal in poetry, and was awarded the Langston Hughes Poetry Award in 1999 and in 1998 received nominations for both the National Book Critics Circle and the NAACP Image Awards. Among numerous other honors, she was granted a Pew Fellowship in the Arts for 1992-93.

Students from Casey, Heim and Transit middle schools; Country Parkway, Forest, Maple East and Maple West elementary schools; and Williamsville East, North and South high schools, will be taking part in the event.