Sonia Sanchez on Learning the Legacy of Zora Neale Hurston

GreeneSpaceNY  After 75 years, Zora Neale Hurston's novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, still resonates in the hearts and minds of contemporary audiences, but it had particular significance for black women writers and artists who were working at the time of its rediscovery. The Greene Space convened three luminaries who are all intimately connected to the novel -- Alice Walker, Sonia Sanchez and Ruby Dee -- to share their stories and describe how they saw Janie and Zora's horizons on their own journeys. Zora Neale Hurston's niece Lucy Anne Hurston, author of Speak, So You Can Speak Again: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston, served as the evening's moderator.

Here, Sonia Sanchez discusses her beginnings as a writer and poet, and her discovery of Zora's work.