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Awards Wed Nov 26 2014

Chicago Literary Hall of Fame to Induct Six Authors

GB-LitHOFposter.jpg Six Chicago literary figures will be inducted into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame Saturday, Dec. 6, at Roosevelt University's Ganz Hall.

The Chicago Literary Hall of Fame honors and preserves Chicago's great literary heritage through educational programming, awards, exhibits and other special events. One of its current projects is creating a repository of detailed information about Chicago's past, present and future literary life, through such projects as the Chicago Literary Map, the Chicago Book of the Day, and the Chicago Literary Calendar.

This year's Literary Hall of Fame inductees are three poets, a legendary editor, a novelist and an author of iconic childen's books.

Margaret Anderson, founder and editor of The Little Review, which was a force in American and European literary circles a century ago. Kathleen Rooney, who will induct Anderson, compares Anderson's influence on independent publishing to that of Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground on music.

David Hernandez, poet and Puerto Rican emigrant. He was considered the unofficial poet laureate of Chicago and began by performing his poetry on street corners and playgrounds. His poetry collections include Collected Words for a Dusty Shelf (1973), Satin City Lullaby (1987), and Rooftop Piper (1991).

Edgar Lee Masters,, a poet best known for Spoon River Anthology, one of the most widely read works of American literature. Among his other works are 21 books of poetry, 12 plays, six novels, and six biographies,

Willard Motley, a novelist credited with the famous line, "live fast, die young and have a good-looking corpse," from the film, Knock on Any Door. The son of a Pullman porter, Motley grew up in Englewood and was the original author of the Bud Billiken columns in The Defender. His first two novels, Knock On Anybody's Door and We Fished All Night, were set in his hometown.

Shel Silverstein, author of iconic children's books. His prose works include The Giving Tree, A Giraffe and a Half, and The Missing Piece. His popular poetry collections are Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic, Falling Up and Don't Bump the Glump! And Other Fantasies.

Margaret Walker, one of the youngest published black poets of the 20th century. The title poem in her first published book of poetry, For My People (1942), won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition. She also wrote Jubilee (1966), a story based on her great-grandmother's life as a slave.

Veteran Chicago journalist and raconteur Rick Kogan will emcee the event. Presenters will be Marta Collazo, Kevin Coval, Bayo Ojikutu, Useni Eugene Perkins, Kathleen Rooney and Herbert K. Russell. Other performers include musician Jon Langford, Cynthia Judge and Leslie Holland Pryor. Winners of the Rutledge Awards for high school writers will also be acknowledged at the ceremony.

The event is cosponsored by the American Writers Museum, Chicago Book Expo, Chicago Writers Association, Pocket Guide to Hell and Roosevelt University.

The induction ceremony for the 2014 Chicago Literary Hall of Fame will be from 7 to 9pm Saturday, Dec. 6, at Ganz Hall, Roosevelt University, 430 S. Michigan Ave. The event is free and you can register here.

 
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