L2L Gwendolyn Brooks

The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks

Gwendolyn Brooks

Born in Topeka, Kansas, but an “organic Chicagoan,” Gwendolyn Brooks provided some of the most moving and important poetry of the latter half of the twentieth century. Her range was astounding, from broad social concerns to intimate personal moments, all delicately and powerfully described. She was the first African American to win a Pulitzer in 1950, and she was poet laureate of Illinois in 1968 and the United States in 1985–1986. This week, Leigh Rich, P. T. Bridgeport, and Dr. Carol Andrews read and discuss Brooks’ life and lines.