Poet Gwendolyn Brooks would have turned 100 this week, and that birthday is being commemorated with new books, poetry readings, writing contests and even a bus tour through her hometown of Chicago, all inspired by her.
Brooks, who died in 2000, became the first African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize, earning the honor in 1950 for her coming-of-age poetry book Annie Allen. Her writing drew from vibrant Chicago neighborhoods, capturing everyday black life and examining critical issues like civil rights. She was also instrumental in promoting black publishing, bypassing big houses for smaller presses later in her career.
“She was at the apex of understanding who she was culturally and who she was as a woman. She was on top of a significant mountain representing us without doubt or hesitation,” said poet Haki Madhubuti, who Brooks mentored.
Madhubuti founded Third World Press, which also published Brooks. “(Brooks) was not only revolutionary, but evolutionary,” he said.
Wednesday marks the official birthday with planned celebrations at the University of Chicago and other places around Illinois, where she was poet laureate for more than three decades. Organizers are encouraging a social media “International Birthday Party” in remembrance. Some locales have already hosted centennial events, including Medgar Evers College in New York.
At least three new books about Brooks have recently been released: Angela Jackson’s biographical A Surprised Queenhood in The New Black Sun, the anthology Revise the Psalm: Work Celebrating the Writing of Gwendolyn Brooks, and Seasons: A Gwendolyn Brooks Experience, which is partly edited by her daughter, Nora Brooks Blakely.