As part of the Chicago Writers Associa-tion’s program-ming efforts, the second annual induction ceremony for The Chicago Literary Hall of Fame will take place on November 15 at the Cindy Pritzker Auditorium at the Harold Washington Library. The Hall of Fame will enrich its impressive membership with six new writers whose work invokes a Chicago past that brings new light to today. This year’s inductees include Cyrus Colter, Theodore Dreiser, Harriet Monroe, Mike Royko, Carl Sandburg, and Ida B. Wells.
“I’m a writer and a lifelong fan of literature,” said the Hall of Fame’s Executive Director Don Evans. “It’s embedded in my life. I’d been living in London and done the tour of all the great literary sites, and came back and realized there isn’t much here. Chicago is a great cultural scene. We have Harold Washington Library, The Cultural Center, and there’s so much being done, but when you walk around and try to connect the Chicago of today with the literature of the past there’s not much there.”The ceremony itself is the main attraction for the general public, but, according to Evans, the conversations that take place during the nomination and selection processes are equally valuable nuggets of literary importance that serve to shed light on the works of past greats whether or not those names make it into the Hall of Fame.
“Michael Burke wrote a really nice defense of Henry Blake Fuller, another writer who is largely forgotten,” Evans said. “He had homosexual characters, which was just unheard of. That kind of work someone has to trail blaze. He had these books nobody bought or wanted to publish because they weren’t acceptable to the mainstream consciousness, in addition to having a successful career. Part of what these writers did was to make it okay to have these conversations about characters that were outside of the mainstream thinking.”
A group of talented writers was assembled to generate a list of nominees. Among them is Senior Editor of Poetry, Don Share; founder of the Chicago Underground Library, Nell Taylor; former McArthur Fellow and frequent New Yorker contributor George Saunders, and many more. Alex Kotlowitz, whose documentary “The Interrupters” is the most recent success in a long line of groundbreaking projects, is part of the selection committee.
The event will be well attended by descendants of these extraordinary hall-of-famers. Drieser’s granddaughter will be in the audience, along with Michelle and Donald Duster who are the great niece and grandson of Ida B. Wells. Numerous members of the Royko clan, a Group from Carl Sandburg historic foundation coming, and Monroes from as far a New York, Minnesota, Virginia, and even California will also attend.
Photo courtesy of 8 Eyes Photography.
