Sonia Sanchez reads poetry in the Holland Union Building

Sonia Sanchez, a renowned poet, activist and scholar, visited the Holland Union Building on Tuesday, April 17, 1984 to present her poetry and discuss her work. During her reading, Sanchez presented the short story "How the Rain was Made", followed by poetry readings of "Poem at Thirty", "Short Poem", "A Poem for my Father", "Summer Voice of a Sister Addict", among other works.

In her discussion of each poem, Sanchez described the inspiration behind each work, and spoke at length on the use of chanting and singing in several of her poems: "I've always heard music when I write." she said. However, she also said that chanting "had not been something she intended to use, but when reciting certain poetry, she had found it accommodating."