Gwendolyn Brooks
From Illinois Authors
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General Information
Name: Gwendolyn BrooksIllinois Poet Laureate - 1968-2000
Genre: Poetry
Born: June 7, 1917 in Topeka, Kansas
Died: December 3, 2000, aged 83, at her Southside Chicago home
Celebrated on the Illinois State Library, Gwendolyn Brooks Building
"The written world holds, oh so much Of wonderful import- Here in these little books of mine Shines gold of every sort" - Gwendolyn Brooks
Illinois Connection
Outside of being born in Topeka, Kansas, Brooks lived in Chicago her entire life.
Biographical and Professional Information
Brooks was a poet, novelist, writer of juvenile fiction and lecturer. She was born in Topeka, Kansas, became a Chicagoan at 6 months old and had her first poem published in a magazine at age 13. She became Illinois Poet Laureate in 1968 and remained so until her death.
Brooks was raised in Chicago. She was a very shy child. She became a great reader but was not interested in school. She began writing poetry at age seven and had her first poem published in a magazine at age 13. She briefly wrote a neighborhood newsletter, and at 17 she started writing for a newspaper, the Chicago Defender. After college, Brooks worked at a variety of jobs until her marriage and the birth of her two children, but she continued to write poetry.
In 1945, her first of several books of poetry for adults was published to great praise. She has won many honors and awards and was the first Black to win the Pulitzer Prize. She won her Pulitzer in 1949 for Annie Allen. In 1968, Gwendolyn Brooks was named the Poet Laureate of Illinois and served in that capacity until her death in 2000. She served as the Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1985-86.
Her early poems, collected in A Street in Bronzeville (1945) and Selected Poems (1963), combine a realistic interest in the black experience in Chicago with a sophisticated, modernist style. Later works include Primer for Blacks (1980), Young Poet's Primer (1981) and To Disembark (1981). Brooks also is the author of a notable novel, Maud Martha (1953). Her last book, Report From Part Two, was published in 1998. In all, she was the author of more than twenty books of poetry. She lived in Chicago until her death on December 3, 2000.
Published Works
- A Street in Bronzeville, Harper, 1945
- Annie Allen, 1949
- Maud Martha, 1953
- The Bean Eaters, 1960
- Selected Poems, 1963
- Annie Allen, 1968
- In the Mecca, 1968
- For Illinois 1968 A Sesquicentennial Poem, Harper, 1968
- Riot, 1969
- Report from Part One: An Autobiography, 1972
- Primer for Blacks, Black Position Press, 1980
- Young Poet's Primer, 1981
- To Disembark, Third World Press, 1981
- Black Love, Brooks Press, 1982
- Mayor Harold Washington and Chicago, The I Will City, Brooks Press, 1983
- The Near Johannesburg Boy, and Other Poems, David Co., 1986
- Blacks, 1987
- Gottschalk and the Grande Tarantella, David Co., 1988
- Winnie, Third World Press, 1988
- Children Coming Home, David Co., 1991
- Report From Part Two, 1998
Titles for Purchase and at Your Library
Annie AllenISBN: 0837155614 Release Date: 1989-10 |
 | Maud Martha: A NovelISBN: 0883780615 Release Date: 1992-10-01 |
 | Selected PoemsISBN: 0060909897 Release Date: 1963-06 |
Annie AllenISBN: 0837155614 Release Date: 1989-10 |
 | Blacks (English and English Edition)ISBN: 0883781050 Release Date: 1994-01-01 |
Literary Awards
- 1969 National Book Award Finalist in Poetry for In the Mecca
- Poet Laureate of Illinois 1968-2000
- Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress 1985-1986
- Pulitzer Prize, 1949 for Annie Allen
- Awarded Illinois Author of the Year by the Illinois Association of Teachers of English in 1978.
- In 1990, her name was engraved on the frieze of the Illinois State Library alongside other great Illinois literary figures.
- In 2010 she was inducted into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame.
She also received an American Academy of Arts and Letters award, the Frost Medal, a National Endowment for the Arts award, the Shelley Memorial Award, and fellowships from The Academy of American Poets and the Guggenheim Foundation.
External Links
Gwendolyn Brooks on the State of Illinos' Illinois Poet Laureate Site
Editing
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