Gwendolyn Brooks and Haki R. Madhubuti
Guild Complex

Tonight's special guests include Gwendolyn Brooks, Illinois Poet Laureate, is the first black writer to win the Pulitzer Prize. Along with award-winning poet, publisher, editor and educator, Haki R. Madhubuti is a pivotal figure in the development of a strong Black literary tradition, emerging from the era of the Sixties and continuing to the present day.


11/5/1998 - 11/5/1998


Gwendolyn Brooks, Illinois Poet Laureate, is the first black writer to win the Pulitzer Prize. Ms Brooks has been awarded the National Medal of Arts, the Federal Government?s highest honor for achievement in the humanities, and the 1994 Jefferson Lecturer for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities. In 1994, she recognized the 50th anniversary of the publication of her first book, A Street in Bronzeville. Her most recent book is Report From Part Two, the second part of her autobiography. It?s publication in 1995 coincided with the 50th anniversary of the publication of her very first book.

In 1968 she was named Poet Laureate of Illinois, succeeding the late Carl Sandburg, and holds that post to this date. Se was also the first black woman to be named as Consultant-in-Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1985. She is the recipient of over 70 honorary doctorates. A duplicate of a bronze bust sculpted of Ms. Brooks placed in the Harold Washington Library will be placed in the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution. In 1994 she was honored with the prestigious Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters by the National Book Foundation. In 1995 the Gwendolyn Brooks Elementary School in Aurora, IL, was completed, becoming the second school to be named in her honor.

As an award-winning poet, publisher, editor and educator, Haki R. Madhubuti is a pivotal figure in the development of a strong Black literary tradition, emerging from the era of the Sixties and continuing to the present day. He has published 22 books and is one of the world?s best-selling authors of poetry and non-fiction, with books in print in excess of 3 million. His Black Men: Obsolete, Single, Dangerous? (1990) has sold over 800,000 copies. His latest books include Claiming Earth: Race, Rage, Rape, Redemption: Blacks Seeking a Culture of Enlightened Empowerment (1994), Million Man March/Day of Absence: A Commemorative Anthology (1996), Ground Work: Selected Poems 1966-1996 (1996) and HeartLove: Essential Meditations of Commitment, Wedding and Love Poems (1998). He is a recipient of the National Endowment of the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships and Illinois Arts Council Award. His many honors include being named one of ETA Creative Arts Foundation?s ?Epic Men of the 10th Century. Mr. Madhubuti is a professor of English and Founder & Director Emeritus of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center at Chicago State University. He earned his M.F.A. from the University of Iowa. In 1996 he was awarded the Doctor of Humane Letters from DePaul University of Chicago and Sojourner-Douglas College in Baltimore.

Performers
Gwendolyn Brooks and Haki R. Madhubuti

Tags: Literary, American, 1998