Full of Pepper and Light: Welcoming the Gwendoyln Brooks Papers to the University of Illinois

Gwendolyn Brooks is probably best know for her poem “We Real Cool.” Brooks, a Pulitzer Prize Winner and a past Poet Laureate for the state of Illinois, died in 2000. Last fall, the University of Illinois Rare Book and Manuscript Library acquired her archives. Tonight, at 7:30 at the Lincoln Hall Theater there will be an event serving as an official welcoming of those papers.

Earlier this week, Ron Bailey, Chair of African-American Studies at the U of I, stopped by the WILL Studios to talk with Illinois Public Media's Jason Croft about Brooks, her archives, and the impact of her work.  The first question Bailey was asked was what did he think Brooks tried to accomplish in her writing.

The event tonight is entitled “Full of Pepper and Light: Welcoming the Gwendolyn Brooks Papers to the University of Illinois.” It will be at 7:30 at the Lincoln Hall Theater, 702 Wright Street in Urbana. Admission is free. More information at go.library.illinois.edu/brooks.