Event to honor poetry, life of Gwendolyn Brooks

The Institute for the Humanities at the University of Illinois at Chicago will present “Gwendolyn Brooks’ Poems: A Centenary Celebration,” a special event featuring poetry readings and discussions of the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet’s legacy.

WHEN:

Nov. 8
3 – 5:30 p.m.

WHERE:

UIC Institute for the Humanities
Stevenson Hall, Lower Level
701 S. Morgan St.

DETAILS:

Gwendolyn Brooks was the first African American to receive a Pulitzer Prize in any literary genre. She served as the Illinois Poet Laureate from 1968 to 2000 and was U.S. Poet Laureate in 1985.

Through her writing and activism, she is remembered for a distinctive perspective on the lives of black Americans, racial injustice, poverty, beauty, womanhood and more.

One hundred years after her birth, the UIC celebration of her life and work will feature presentations by CM Burroughs, Reginald Gibbons, Quraysh Ali Lansana, Angela Jackson and Ed Roberson.

Event co-sponsors are the UIC Institute for the Humanities, the departments of English and African American studies at UIC and The Poetry Foundation.

Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, call (312) 996-6352.