Meet poet Sonia Sanchez during the 2010 GLBT Author Presentation for Pima County Public Library! Poet and scholar Sonia Sanchez will read from her works at the 12th annual author presentation of the Pima County Public Library's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) Services Committee.

The event takes place Wednesday, June 16 at the Dunbar Cultural Center Auditorium, 325 W. Second St. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the presentation begins at 6 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, and a sign language interpreter will be present.

Sanchez will read from her work “Does Your House Have Lions,” a book-length poem about the life and death of her brother, who died from an AIDS-related illness.

Laura Markowitz, contributing producer at Arizona Public Media, will interview Sanchez, who will take questions from the audience after the interview.

Sanchez will remain to sign her books following the presentation. Her books will be available for sale before and after the event.

During the early 1960s, Sanchez advocated for the philosophy of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Over time she began to concentrate on her Black heritage from a separatist point of view.

Sanchez, who began teaching in the San Francisco area in 1965, was a pioneer in developing Black studies courses at what is now San Francisco State University. In 1971 she joined the Nation of Islam, but left the Nation, partly because of its treatment of women.

She is the author of more than a dozen books of poetry, including Shake Loose My Skin: New and Selected Poems (Beacon Press, 1999), Like the Singing Coming Off the Drums: Love Poems (1998); Does Your House Have Lions? (1995), which was nominated for both the NAACP Image and National Book Critics Circle Award; Wounded in the House of a Friend (1995); Under a Soprano Sky (1987). Homegirls & Handgrenades (1984), a collection of autobiographical prose poems, received an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation. Titles of other works include I’ve Been a Woman: New and Selected Poems (1978); A Blues Book for Black Magical Women (1973); Liberation Poem (1970); We a BaddDDD People (1970); and Homecoming (1969). Sanchez also has written a number of plays, including Uneasy Landings (1995); I’m Black When I’m Singing, I’m Blue When I Ain’t (1982); Malcolm Man/Don’t Live Here No Mo’ (1979); Uh Huh: But How Do It Free Us? (1974); Dirty Hearts 72 (1973); The Bronx Is Next (1970); and Sister Sonji (1969). Her books for children include A Sound Investment and Other Stories (1979). This event is sponsored by the Friends of the Pima County Public Library. You can find out more about the event here or RSVP via Facebook.