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| Gwendolyn Brooks, reigning Poet Laureate of Illinois since 1969, was the first black author to win the Pulitzer Prize. The Pulitzer, which she won in 1950 for poetry, is only one of the many highlights of her long and varied career. Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas, but much of her poetry is intimately connected with the urban black neighborhoods of Chicago. Brooks's subject matter is often plain, but she says she is influenced by diverse and distinguished styles of poetry. Many of her poems concern the aftermath of the Great Migration of black Americans to Chicago in the early 20th century. Her one novel, "Maud Martha," is about a ghetto woman trying to find her place in the world. In the 1970s, her work took on a more political tone, and she switched to a black-owned publishing house. Brooks has returned to writing about more personal subjects in recent years, and she continues to lecture and make frequent public appearances. She has taught at Columbia College, Elmhurst College, Northeast Illinois University, the City University of New York, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She passed away in December 2000. Works:
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