As part of Boston Review’s virtual fall event series, legendary poet Sonia Sanchez and African American literature scholar Farah Jasmine Griffin came together for a conversation with Elleza Kelley about what literature written by Black Americans teaches us about the fundamental questions of humanity, politics, and art.

About the Panelists:

Farah Jasmine Griffin is the William B. Ransford Professor of English and Comparative Literature and African-American Studies at Columbia University, and author of the book Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature.

Sonia Sanchez —poet, activist, scholar—was the Laura Carnell Professor of English and Women’s Studies at Temple University. She is the recipient of both the Robert Frost Medal for distinguished lifetime service to American poetry and the Langston Hughes Poetry Award. One of the most important writers of the Black Arts Movement, Sanchez is the author of sixteen books. Her latest book is Collected Poems.

Elleza Kelley is a PhD candidate in the English Department at Columbia University. Her research examines how black spatial and geographic production is archived in art and literature.