The exhibit is co-sponsored by the Chicago History Museum and funded through the generous support of The Chicago Community Trust and the S&C Electric Company.

 

"These groundbreaking writers inspired change with their writings and helped make America a better and more tolerant nation," said Carolyn Saper, AWM director of education and special programs, who has led the exhibit initiative.    

 

The exhibit recently commenced its tour through neighborhoods in Chicago at the historic George Cleveland Hall Branch Library.

 

Special programming associated with the exhibit included a Gwendolyn Brooks Community Reading last month, facilitated by AWM's exhibit partner, the Guild Literary Complex.

 

Exhibit locations will be added, but the current schedule includes:

• April 4-30, Woodson Regional Library   
• May 2-22, South Shore Cultural Center 

• Summer 2014, Downtown Chicago locations (Check AWM website for updates)

• September 9-30, DuSable Museum of African American History 

Information on upcoming programming will be available on the AWM website.

 

An online version of From Our Neighborhoods: Four Chicago Writers Who Changed America can be viewed at the AWM website.

 

Visit the exhibit here to discover more!

 

(L to R) Francia Harrington, Sr. VP, JP Morgan Chase, and Nike Whitcomb, AWM Executive Director, with Nancy Horan and Donna Seaman

The American Writers Museum (AWM) recently partnered with the Woman's Athletic Club of Chicago (WAC) for "Reflections on Reading and Writing." The event featured an interview of best-selling author Nancy Horan (Loving Frank). Horan's new book, Under the Wide and Starry Sky, chronicles the lives of Scottish-born author Robert Louis Stevenson and his American wife, Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne. Horan was interviewed by Donna Seaman, Senior  Editor for Booklist, American Library Association, and member of AWM's National Advisory Council.

 

In welcoming guests, WAC President Constance Frydenlund praised AWM for choosing Chicago as its location, noting, "It is adding to an already rich cultural scene in Chicago," and suggested that more collaborative programs such as this will be planned over the next several months.

As part of the From Our Neighborhoods exhibit project, the AWM is sponsoring the Rutledge Writing Awards competition. Students enrolled in Chicago public, charter, and parochial high schools are invited to submit entries for the 2014 Rutledge Writing Awards. Submissions are on the theme of neighborhood. Cash prizes will be awarded within two genres: poetry and prose. Prose entries may be memoir, fiction, or oral history. Winning submissions will be eligible for publication in a national literary magazine for youth. Submissions will be accepted now through July 15, 2014. For more information on eligibility, submissions, and prize details, visit the 2014 Rutledge Writing Awards webpage.

Author homes/museums of these American writers have all become AWM Affiliates: 

• The Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center; Piggott, AR
• Washington Irving's Sunnyside; Pocantico Hills, NY
• The Old Courthouse Museum (Truman Capote and Harper Lee). 

From the outset, the American Writers Museum founders envisioned partnerships with authors' homes and museums across the country. To date, 34 author homes, museums, and foundations are AWM Affiliates, and the Author Home/Museum Affiliate program continues to expand.

 

There is no cost to become an AWM affiliate. For more information, please contact Lynne Pace Robinson or Pam Buckles at general@americanwritersmuseum.org or call 202.263.3330. 

 

- Stuart Dybek, Illinois-based poet and short story writer

A Gift for You. A Gift for the Museum.