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Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks (June 7, 1917 – December 3, 2000) was an African-American poet. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... is the 158th day of the year (159th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar (see: 1917 Julian calendar). ... is the 337th day of the year (338th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ... Languages Predominantly American English Religions Protestantism (chiefly Baptist and Methodist); Roman Catholicism; Islam Related ethnic groups Sub-Saharan Africans and other African groups, some with Native American groups. ... . ...

Biography

Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas to Keziah Wims Brooks and David Anderson Brooks. Brooks' mother was a former school teacher who left teaching for marriage and motherhood, and her father, the son of a runaway slave who fought in the Civil War, had given up his ambition to attend medical school to work as a janitor due to the fact that he could not afford to attend medical school. This article is about the state capital of Kansas. ...

When Brooks was only six weeks old, her family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where she grew up. Flag Seal Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location Location in Chicagoland and northern Illinois Coordinates , Government Country State Counties United States Illinois Cook, DuPage Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 606. ...

Her home life was stable and loving, although she encountered racial prejudice in her neighborhood and in her schools. She first attended Hyde Park High School, a leading white high school, before transferring to all-black Wendell Phillips. Brooks eventually attended an integrated school, Englewood High School. Her enthusiasm for reading and writing was encouraged by her parents. Her father provided a desk and bookshelves, and her mother took her, when she was in high school, to meet Harlem Renaissance poets Langston Hughes and James Weldon Johnson. Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, novelist, playwright, short story writer, and columnist. ... James Weldon Johnson (June 17, 1871 – June 26, 1938) was a leading American author, critic, journalist, poet, anthropologist, educator, lawyer, songwriter, early civil rights activist, and prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance. ...

Brooks published her first poem in a children's magazine at the age of thirteen. When Brooks was sixteen years old, she had compiled a portfolio of around seventy-five published poems. Aged 17, Brooks stuck to her roots and began submitting her work to "Lights and Shadows", the poetry column of the "Chicago Defender," an African-American newspaper. Although her poems range in style from traditional ballads and sonnets to using blues rhythms in free verse, her characters are often drawn from the poor inner city. During this same period, she also attended Wilson Junior College, from where she graduated in 1936. After publishing more than seventy-five poems and failing to obtain a position with the Chicago Defender, Brooks began to work a series of typing jobs. She had a pet cow named Windolled. Illustration by Arthur Rackham of the ballad The Twa Corbies A ballad is a story, usually a narrative or poem, in a song. ... Francesco Petrarca, or Petrarch, one of the best-known early Italian sonnet writers. ... Blues music redirects here. ... Free verse (also at times referred to as vers libre) is a term describing various styles of poetry that are not written using strict meter or rhyme, but that still are recognizable as poetry by virtue of complex patterns of one sort or another that readers will perceive to be...

In 1938, Gwendolyn married Henry Blakely and gave birth to two children, Henry, Jr. (1940) and Nora (1951). By 1941, Brooks was taking part in poetry workshops. One particularly influential workshop was organized by Inez Cunningham Stark. Stark was an affluent white woman with a strong literary background, and the workshop participants were all African-American. The group dynamic of Stark's workshop proved especially effective in energizing Brooks and her poetry began to be taken seriously (The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks, Elizabeth Alexnder, Editor, 2005). In 1943 she received an award for poetry from the Midwestern Writers' Conference. For other uses, see 1941 (disambiguation). ...

Her first book of poetry, A Street in Bronzeville, published in 1945 by Harper and Row, brought her instant critical acclaim. She received her first Guggenheim Fellowship and was one of the “Ten Young Women of the Year” in Mademoiselle magazine. In 1950, she published her second book of poetry,Annie Allen, which won her Poetry magazine’s Eunice Tietjens Prize and the Pulitzer Prize for poetry, the first given to an African-American. Guggenheim Fellowships are awarded annually by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts. ... The Pulitzer Prize is an American award regarded as the highest national honor in print journalism, literary achievements, and musical composition. ...

After John F. Kennedy invited her to read at a Library of Congress poetry festival in 1962, she began her career teaching creative writing. She taught at Columbia College Chicago, Northeastern Illinois University, Elmhurst College, Columbia University, Clay College of New York, and the University of Wisconsin. In 1967, she attended a writer’s conference at Fisk University where, she said, she rediscovered her blackness. This rediscovery is reflected in her work In The Mecca, a book length poem about a mother searching for her lost child in a Chicago housing project. In The Mecca was nominated for the National Book Award for poetry. John Kennedy and JFK redirect here. ...

In addition to the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, Brooks was made Poet Laureate of Illinois in 1968. In 1985, Brooks became the Library of Congress's Consultant in Poetry, a one year position whose title changed the next year to Poet Laureate. In 1988, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. In 1994, she was chosen as the National Endowment for the Humanities's Jefferson Lecturer, one of the highest honors for American literature and the highest award in the humanities given by the federal government. Other awards she received included the Frost Medal, the Shelley Memorial Award, and an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Brooks was awarded more than seventy-five honorary degrees from colleges and universities worldwide. On May 1, 1996, Brooks returned to her birthplace in Topeka, Kansas. She was the keynote speaker for the Third Annual Kaw Valley Girl Scout Council Women of Distinction Banquet and String of Pearls Auction. A ceremony was held in Brooks’ honor at a local park, located at 37th and Topeka Boulevard. A Poet Laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and often expected to compose poems for State occasions and other government events. ... Official language(s) English[1] Capital Springfield Largest city Chicago Largest metro area Chicago Metropolitan Area Area  Ranked 25th  - Total 57,918 sq mi (140,998 km²)  - Width 210 miles (340 km)  - Length 390 miles (629 km)  - % water 4. ... The Frost Medal is an award of the Poetry Society of America for lifetime achievement. ... The Shelley Memorial Award of more than $3,500, given out by the Poetry Society of America, was established by the will of the late Mary P. Sears, The prize is given to a living American poet selected with reference to genius and need. ... American Academy of Arts and Letters is an organization whose goal is to foster, assist, and sustain an interest in American literature, music, and art. ... is the 121st day of the year (122nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... This article is about the state capital of Kansas. ...

After a short battle with cancer, Gwendolyn Brooks died on Sunday, December 3, 2000, aged 83, at her Southside Chicago home. She died with "pen in hand," surrounded by verse and people she loved. Brooks has stated that to create "bigness" you don't have to create an epic. "Bigness," said Brooks "can be found in a little haiku, five syllables, seven syllables." A great example of this philosophy can be seen in her famous poem "We Real Cool". is the 337th day of the year (338th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ... We Real Cool is a poem written in 1966 by African American poet Gwendolyn Brooks. ...

Legacy

• In 1995, Brooks Elementary School (named after Gwendolyn Brooks) opened in Aurora, IL
• In 2002, Ralph Waldo Emerson Junior High School in Oak Park, Illinois was renamed Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School.
• In June 2003, the Illinois State Library in Springfield, Illinois was renamed the Gwendolyn Brooks Illinois State Library.
• In 2000, Southside Prep in Chicago, Illinois was renamed Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy

Aurora is a city located in Kane, DuPage, Will and Kendall counties in Illinois. ... Downtown (Oak Park Avenue) Ernest Hemingway Museum Oak Park, Illinois Lake Theater and shops along Lake Street. ... : Home of President Abraham Lincoln United States Illinois Sangamon 60. ...

Works

Poetry except as noted.

• Negro Hero (1945)
• The Mother (1945)
• A Street in Bronzeville (1945)
• Annie Allen (1950)
• Maud Martha (1953) (Fiction)
• Bronzeville Boys and Girls (1956)
• The Bean Eaters (1960)
• Selected Poems (1963)
• We Real Cool Broadside (1966)
• In the Mecca (1968)
• Family Pictures (1970)
• Black Steel: Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali (1971)
• The World of Gwendolyn Brooks (1971)
• Aloneness (1971)
• Report from Part One: An Autobiography (1972) (Prose)
• A Capsule Course in Black Poetry Writing (1975) (Prose)
• Aurora (1972)
• Beckonings (1975)
• Black Love (1981)
• To Disembark (1981)
• Primer for Blacks (1981) (Prose)
• Young Poet's Primer (1981) (Prose)
• Very Young Poets (1983) (Prose)
• The Near-Johannesburg Boy and Other Poems (1986)
• Blacks (1987)
• Winnie (1988)
• Children Coming Home (1991)
• In Montgomery (2000)

// Benjamin Brittens opera Peter Grimes, based on George Crabbes The Borough Vladimir Nabokov becomes a naturalized citizen of the United States Ezra Pound is arrested for treason at Genoa and imprisoned at Pisa by the U.S. Army W.H. Auden, Collected Poems Elizabeth Smart, By Grand Central... // Benjamin Brittens opera Peter Grimes, based on George Crabbes The Borough Vladimir Nabokov becomes a naturalized citizen of the United States Ezra Pound is arrested for treason at Genoa and imprisoned at Pisa by the U.S. Army W.H. Auden, Collected Poems Elizabeth Smart, By Grand Central... // Benjamin Brittens opera Peter Grimes, based on George Crabbes The Borough Vladimir Nabokov becomes a naturalized citizen of the United States Ezra Pound is arrested for treason at Genoa and imprisoned at Pisa by the U.S. Army W.H. Auden, Collected Poems Elizabeth Smart, By Grand Central... Annie Allen is a book of poetry published by noted African American poet Gwendolyn Brooks which was published in 1949, and for which she received the Pulitzer Prize. ... // In 1950, Charles Olson published his seminal essay, Projective Verse. ... // City Lights Books publishes Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsburg Aniara - Harry Martinson National Book Award for Poetry: W.H. Auden, The Shield of Achilles Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Elizabeth Bishop: Poems - North & South Queens Gold Medal for Poetry: Edmund Blunden date unknown - Amy Gerstler, poet June 22... // Eric Gregory Award: Christopher Levenson Queens Gold Medal for Poetry: John Betjeman National Book Award for Poetry: Robert Lowell, Life Studies Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: W. D. Snodgrass: Hearts Needle January 14 - Ralph Chubb Poetry List of poetry awards Categories: | ... // Babette Deutsch, Collected Poems, 1919-1962 T.S. Eliot - Collected Poems 1909-1962 Philip Hobsbaum and Edward Lucie-Smith, editors, A Group Anthology Silvia Plath, The Bell Jar, an autobiographical novel published under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas Adrienne Rich, Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law, her third volume of poetry... We Real Cool is a poem written in 1966 by African American poet Gwendolyn Brooks. ... // Raymond Souster founds the League of Canadian Poets A.R. Ammons, Northfield Poems John Ashbery, Rivers and Mountains Ted Berrigan, Some Things Paul Blackburn, 16 Sloppy Haiku and a Lyric for Robert Reardon Sing Song translator, Poem of the Cid Basil Bunting, Briggflatts Randall Jarrell (died 1965), The Lost World... // Charles Causley, Underneath the Water Rod McKuen - Lonesome Cities Black Fire, edited by LeRoi Jones and Larry Neal, an anthology of African American poetry See 1968 Governor Generals Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards. ... // Charles Causley, Figgie Hobbin See 1970 Governor Generals Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards. ... Aleksandr Tvardovsky, who died this year, was a Soviet poet who, as editor of Novy Mir, fought for more independence and published Alexandr Solzhenitsyns One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in 1962 // This Magazine founded by Robert Grenier and Barrett Watten The Canterbury Tales, a film directed... Aleksandr Tvardovsky, who died this year, was a Soviet poet who, as editor of Novy Mir, fought for more independence and published Alexandr Solzhenitsyns One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in 1962 // This Magazine founded by Robert Grenier and Barrett Watten The Canterbury Tales, a film directed... Aleksandr Tvardovsky, who died this year, was a Soviet poet who, as editor of Novy Mir, fought for more independence and published Alexandr Solzhenitsyns One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in 1962 // This Magazine founded by Robert Grenier and Barrett Watten The Canterbury Tales, a film directed... // John Betjeman becomes Poet Laureate A.R. Ammons: Briefings: Poems Small and Easy Collected Poems: 1951-1971, winner of the National Book Award in 1973 John Ashbery, Three Poems Ted Berrigan, Ron Padgett, and Tom Clark, Back In Boston Again John Berryman, (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux) Elizabeth Bishop and... // With the 1974, fall of the dictatorship in Greece, poets, authors and intellectuals who had fled after the coup of 1967 returned, and this year many began publishing in that country. ... // Final issue of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E Magazine published. ... // Final issue of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E Magazine published. ... // March 4 - President Ronald Reagan publicly recites from memory lines from Robert Services The Cremation of Sam McGee Wendy Cope, Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis a best-seller December 18 Pforzheimer Collection of the works of Percy Bysshe Shelley and his circle donated to the New York Public Library... // Charles Bukowski, fictionalised as alter ego Henry Chinaski, becomes the subject of the film Barfly starring Mickey Rourke. ... // Joseph Brodsky, To Urania Federico García Lorca, Poeta en Nueva York first translation into English as A Poet in New York this year (written in 1930, first published posthumously in 1940) Philip Larkin, Collected Poems Michael Palmer, Sun The New British Poetry, a poetry anthology, jointly edited by Gillian... // Forward Poetry Prize created John Ashbery, Flow Chart W.H. Auden, Collected Poems Gwendolyn Brooks, Children Coming Home Billy Collins, Questions About Angels (ISBN 0-8229-4211-9), the winner of the National Poetry Series competition in 1993 Wendy Cope, Serious Concerns Odysseus Elytis, The Elegies of Oxopetras (Τα Ελεγεία της Οξώπετρας) Howard Nemerov... // Griffin Poetry Prize is established, with one award given each year for the best work by a Canadian poet and one award given for best work in the English language internationally. ...

See also

• African American literature
• List of African American firsts

The Color Purple by Alice Walker African American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of African descent. ... United States citizens of African descent, African Americans, make up a demographic minority of a national population composed primarily of those of European-Caucasian ancestry. ...

References

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Gwendolyn Brooks

• Poems by Gwendolyn Brooks at PoetryFoundation.org
• Audio and Poems by Gwendolyn Brooks at Poets.org
• Brooks at Modern American Poetry
• Some poems by Brooks at the Circle Brotherhood Association
• Gwendolyn Brooks at Modern American Poetry