About Gwendolyn Brooks

Gwendolyn Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas, in 1917. She became the first black author to win the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for her writing and also the first black woman to hold the position of poetry consultant to the Library of Congress. As Poet Laureate of the State of Illinois, Brooks encouraged many aspiring poets, often funding prizes herself.

Her first poem was published when she was thirteen years old and by the time she was seventeen her poems were being published regularly. Many of her later poems deal with the civil rights activism of the 1960s and reflect her experience as an African‑American woman in a society largely dominated by white men.

Her poetry often paints realistic and raw portraits of individuals, using a variety of forms. Her only novel, Maud Martha, was published in the 1950s and features a black female protagonist.