Biography:

Poet; university professor; civil rights activist. Born– Sept. 9, 1934, in Birmingham, Ala. Parents– Wilson L. and Lena (Jones) Driver. Married–Albert Sanchez.  Married (2)– Etheridge Knight. Children– Three. Education– Hunter College, B.A., 1955; New York University M.A.  Taught at Downtown Community School in San Francisco, San Francisco State College, University of Pittsburgh, Rutgers University, Manhattan Community College, City College of New York, and Amherst College, finally at Temple University,  1977-1999.  Lectured at over 500 universities and published in many journals and anthologies. Awarded the P. E. N. writing award in 1968, a National Institute of Arts and Letters grant in 1970, and an honorary Ph.D. by Wilberforce University. Selected for the first class of the Alabama Authors Hall of Fame, 2015.

Source:

Contemporary Authors online; Contemporary Poets, 1975, 1980.

Publication(s):

The Adventures of Fathead, Smallhead, and Squarehead. New York; Third Press, 1973.

The Afternoon of Smallhead, Fathead, and Squarehead. New York; Third Press, 1974.

Ash. 2001.

Autumn Blues.

A Blues Book for Blue Black Magical Women. Detroit; Broadside Press, 1974.

Bum Rush the Page:  A Def Poetry Jam.  2001.

Continous Fire: A Collection of Poetry.

Does Your House Have Lions?  Beacon Press, 1997.

Generations, 1969-1985. London; Karnah House, 1986.

Home Coming; Poems. Detroit; Broadside Press, 1969.

Homegirls and Handgrenades. New York; Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1984.

Ima Talken Bout the Nation of Islam. Astoria, N.Y.; Truth Del, 1971.

It’s a New Day; Poems for Young Brothas and Sistuhs. Detroit; Broadside Press, 1971.

I’ve Been a Woman; New and Selected Poems. Sausalito, Calif.; Black Scholar Press, 1978.

Liberation Poem. Detroit; Broadside Press, 1970.

Like the Singing Coming off the Drums: Love Poems.

Love Poems. New York; Third Press, 1973.

Morning Haiku.  Beacon Press, 2010.

Shake Down Memory.

Shake Loose My Skin. Beacon Press, 2000.

A Sound Investment; Short Stories for Young Readers. Chicago; Third World Press, 1980.

Under a Soprano Sky. Trenton, N.J.; Africa World Press, 1987.

We a BaDDDD People.  Broadside, 1973.

Wounded in the House of a Friend.  Beacon Press, 1995.

Joint_Publication(s):

Black and in Brooklyn, Creators and Creations. Brooklyn; Universal Black Writers Press, 1983.

Plays:

Black Cats and Uneasy Landings.

The Bronx Is Next. 1970.

Dirty Hearts. 1972.

I’m Black when I’m Singing, I’m Blue when I Ain’t.

Malcolm/Man Don’t Live Here No More. 1972.

Sister Sonji. 1972.

Uh Huh, but How Do It Free Us? 1973.

Editor:

Three Hundred and Sixty Degrees of Blackness Comin at You. New York; 5x Pub. Co., 1971.

Contributor:

Of the Heart and the Bread; an Anthology of Poems for Peacemakers. Piscataway, N.J.; Plowshares Press, 1985.

We Be Word Sorcerers; 25 Stories by Black Americans. New York; Bantam, 1973.