Lorraine Hansberry

From Illinois Authors

Contents 1 General Information 1.1 Celebrated on the Illinois State Library, Gwendolyn Brooks Building 2 Illinois Connection 3 Biographical and Professional Information 4 Published Works 5 Titles for Purchase and at Your Library 6 Literary Awards 7 External Links 8 Editing

[edit] General Information

Name: Lorraine Hansberry

Pen Name: None

Born: May 5, 1930 in Chicago, Illinois

Died: January 12, 1965 in New York City, New York

[edit] Celebrated on the Illinois State Library, Gwendolyn Brooks Building

"I believe that one of the most sound ideas in dramatic writing is that, in order to create the universal, you must pay very great attention to the specific." - Lorraine Hansberry, 1959

[edit] Illinois Connection

Lorraine was born and grew up in Chicago.

[edit] Biographical and Professional Information

Lorraine Hansberry was an American playwright and author. She grew up in Chicago, where her father, a real estate broker, fought a long legal battle against codes that enforced racial segregation. Her play, A Raisin in the Sun (1959), is a study of a black family in Chicago and was the first play by a black woman to be produced on Broadway. It won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, and teh 1961 film version won a special award at the Cannes Film Festival. Before her untimely death from cancer, she also wrote a second play, The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window (1964).

[edit] Published Works

• A Raisin in the Sun, Columbia, 1960

• The Sign in Signey Brustein's Window, 1964

• To Be Young, Gifted and Black, Lorraine Hansberry in Her Own Words, Prentice-Hall, 1969

[edit] Titles for Purchase and at Your Library

A Raisin in the Sun ISBN: 0679755330 Release Date: 2004-11-29 Buy on Amazon | Find on World Cat

The Sign in Brustein's Window: A Drama in Two Acts ISBN: 0573615411 Release Date: 1986-12 Buy on Amazon | Find on World Cat

To Be Young, Gifted and Black ISBN: 0679764151 Release Date: 1996-01-03 Buy on Amazon | Find on World Cat

[edit] Literary Awards

In 1990, her name was engraved on the frieze of the Illinois State Library alongside other great Illinois literary figures.

[edit] External Links

Lorraine Hansberry on WorldCat

Lorraine Hansberry on Amazon

Lorraine Hansberry on Wikipedia

[edit] Editing

This page can only be edited by Illinois Center for the Book staff, this author or this author's representatives. Please contact us for access. Readers are welcome to add their input regarding this entry to the Lorraine Hansberry discussion page.