Insight

              The Illinois State Library will soon be known as the
Gwendolyn Brooks Illinois State Library. The
Illinois General Assembly approved a
resolution in April naming the State
Library in memory of the late Pulitzer
Prize winner and longtime Illinois poet
laureate.
On June 6, a dedication ceremony will
be held at the library, featuring speakers
Secretary of State and State Librarian
Jesse White, Senate President Emil Jones Jr.,
House Speaker Michael Madigan, state Rep.
Lovana Jones and Springfield Mayor Tim Davlin.
Mrs. Nora Brooks Blakely, the late poet’s daughter,
will speak on behalf of the Brooks family. A
dedication plaque will be unveiled and permanently
displayed in the library’s atrium.
“Gwendolyn Brooks was a national treasure who
enriched the lives of everyone she encountered,”
said Secretary White. “We are proud and honored
that she spent her entire life here in Illinois. It is
fitting that her name will be permanently attached
to the State Library because her poems are some of
the most extraordinary literary works of the 20th
century.”
Brooks began creating rhyming verses at age 7, and
she was 13 when one of her poems was published
in American Childhood magazine. Her first book of
poetry, A Street in Bronzeville, was published in
1945, and in 1950 at age 32, she became the
first African-American to win a Pulitzer
Prize for her book-length poem, Annie
Allen, chronicling African-American life
in Chicago.
In 1969, Brooks was named Illinois
poet laureate, replacing the late Illinois
poet Carl Sandburg. Brooks created the
Illinois Poet Laureate Award for primary
and secondary school students. Her other
honors included 90 honorary college
degrees, recipient of the Frost Medal, member
of National Women’s Hall of Fame and appointment
to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Brooks received the National Medal of Arts in 1995,
and shortly before her death in December 2000 at
age 83, the Library of Congress named her a “Living
Legend.” She spent the last 11 years of her life as a
distinguished professor of literature at Chicago State
University.
All told, Brooks wrote 22 books of poetry, and her
works are included in countless anthologies. In
1990, she attended the grand opening of the Illinois
State Library, and in 1996 was the featured author
of the State Library’s Illinois Authors Book Fair.
Brooks is one of 35 Illinois authors whose names
are engraved on the fourth-floor frieze of the State
Library.
May/June
in
this
issue
Library community
rallies at
Advocacy Day
“On the
Front Lines”
State Library
receives $6 million
in LSTA funding
State Library to be named after Gwendolyn Brooks
2003
Jesse White • Secretary of State & State Librarian
A Newsletter from the Illinois State Library
INSIGHT
The Bushnell Public Library District
recently was awarded an LSTA "Dream
Again" grant by Secretary of State Jesse
White. The library developed an
economic development program called
"Libraries Lead the Way" to help people
starting new businesses or expanding
existing ones. The celebration included a
business fair featuring information about
how to start a business.