Lorraine Hansberry
From Illinois Authors
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General Information
Pen Name: None
Born: May 5, 1930 in Chicago, Illinois
Died: January 12, 1965 in New York City, New York
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
Illinois Connection
Lorraine was born and grew up in Chicago.
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 in her all-white neighborhood. The case went to the Supreme Court. This experience inspired her most famous work, A Raisin in the Sun, 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, The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window.
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
Titles for Purchase and at Your Library
 | A Raisin in the SunISBN: 0679755330 Release Date: 2004-11-29 |
The Sign in Brustein's Window: A Drama in Two ActsISBN: 0573615411 Release Date: 1986 |
 | To Be Young, Gifted and BlackISBN: 0679764151 Release Date: 1996-01-03 |
Literary Awards
- In 1990, her name was engraved on the frieze of the Illinois State Library alongside other great Illinois literary figures.
- Lorraine was a 2010 inductee of the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame.
External Links
Lorraine Hansberry on WorldCat
Lorraine Hansberry on Wikipedia
Editing
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