Books and events mark Brooks 100th birthday
Mockingbird going graphic
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 comingof-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.
“We’re hoping that as the centennial continues, that more and more people will be excited about learning more about her,” Blakely said.
Chicago’s Literary Hall of Fame has mapped out a June 17 bus tour of important Brooks sites, including the South Side home where she lived for decades and the Chicago Defender, the iconic black newspaper which published her first poems written as a teenager.
Organizers say the commemorations, including a teen writing contest, are emblematic of Brooks.
She believed in mentorship, promoting young writers and hosting workshops. She visited schools, prisons, hospitals and drug rehabilitation centers to read her work and instill appreciation of the written word.
“Gwendolyn Brooks was a truth teller. That is the most significant thing about her.
“Indecent Exposure” (G.P. Putnam’s Sons), by Stuart Woods
As a longtime reader of Stuart Woods’ Stone Barrington books, I took a moment in “Indecent Exposure” to marvel at the journey this character has enjoyed.
At one point, when Stone first hung out his law-office shingle, he was barely able to make ends meet. Loyal-but-skeptical secretary Joan had to juggle the bills, while Stone had too much free time on his hands so he did most of the carpentry work himself in the Turtle Bay apartment in Manhattan that still serves as the hub of this mysteryish series.
Dozens of books later, Stone now finds himself hosting the president of the United States on his corporate yacht; he has essentially a Batphone to the heads of every major international security agency, including the CIA and MI6; and his love life is worthy of tabloid-magazine coverage as if he were a rock star. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is going graphic.
An illustrated edition of Harper Lee’s beloved novel will be published in November 2018, HarperCollins announced Tuesday. The book will be drawn and adapted by British author-illustrator Fred Fordham, who worked on Philip Pullman’s graphic novel “The Adventures of John Blake.” Fordham’s literary agency, Andrew Nurnberg Associates, also works with Lee’s estate.
Lee, who died in 2016, had resisted alternate editions of her book until late in life. Only in 2014 did she permit an e-book of “Mockingbird.” The following year, she stunned the world by authorizing the release of a second novel, “Go Set a Watchman,” which was based on early draft of “Mockingbird.”