CHICAGO —
The Chicago Public Library and the Chicago Public
Library Foundation are honored to announce that Nobel
and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison will
appear in conversation with Oprah Winfrey at the
annual Carl Sandburg Literary Awards Dinner on
Wednesday, October 20 at
The Forum
(725 W. Roosevelt Road) on the campus of the
University of Illinois at Chicago. The evening begins with
a cocktail reception at 6 p.m. followed by an elegant dinner
at 6:45 p.m. The highly anticipated awards presentation and
conversation kick off at 8 p.m.
Sponsorships
for tables of ten begin at $10,000, and individual tickets
are $1,000 or $2,500. For more information or to purchase
tickets, tables or sponsorships, contact Rebecca Spence,
event coordinator at
(312)
201-9830 or
rspence@cplfoundation.org.
Professor
Morrison, one of the most provocative and respected
novelists of our time, will receive the Carl Sandburg
Literary Award which is presented each year to an author
whose significant body of work has enhanced the public’s
awareness of the written word.
In addition
to the presentation of the Carl Sandburg Literary Award to
Toni Morrison, the 21st Century Award, honoring recent
achievement in writing by an author with ties to Chicago,
will be presented that evening to Northwestern University’s
Eula Biss, winner of this year’s National Book Critics
Circle award for criticism.
Morrison is
the author of nine novels and three children’s books. Her
novel Beloved was awarded the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for
fiction and in 2006 was named by the New York Times Book
Review as the best novel of the previous 25 years.
Winfrey produced and starred in the 1998 film based on the
book. Morrison became a professor at Princeton University
in 1989 and in 1993 received the Nobel Prize in Literature,
making her the first African American to be so honored.
Internationally known and admired, Oprah Winfrey is a true
Chicago icon. Through the power of media, Oprah Winfrey has
created an unparalleled connection with people around the
world. As supervising producer and host of the top-rated,
award-winning The Oprah Winfrey Show, she has
entertained, enlightened and uplifted millions of
viewers for the past two decades. Her accomplishments as a
global media leader and philanthropist have established her
as one of the most respected and admired public figures
today. And since launching Oprah’s Book Club in 1996, she
has inspired millions to rediscover the joy of reading and
helped countless authors to find an audience.
Eula Biss
teaches non-fiction writing at Northwestern University and
is a founding editor of Essay Press. Her recent book of
essays Notes From No Man’s Land was honored as this
year’s best work of literary criticism by the National Book
Critics Circle.
Past winners
of the prestigious Carl Sandburg Literary Award include
David McCullough, Robert Caro, Joyce Carol Oates, Henry
Louis Gates Jr., Kurt Vonnegut, John Updike, David Mamet,
Nikki Giovanni, Tom Wolfe and Salman Rushdie.
Event
Co-Chairs are Mesirow Financial Chairman Jim Tyree and
Cheryl Mayberry McKissack, President and CEO of Nia
Enterprises. Ms. McKissack is also a member of the Chicago
Public Library Foundation Board.
Chicago
Public Library recently announced that Toni Morrison’s most
recent novel, A Mercy, will be the 19th selection for
Chicago’s city-wide book club One Book, One Chicago.
A Mercy
is set in the late 17th century, and tells the
story of a young girl, Florens, as well as others on the
Northeast American farm where she is a slave—Lina, a Native
American woman who nurtures the orphaned Florens, the
Anglo-Dutch landowner Jacob Vaark, his English wife Rebekka,
an unstable and elusive slave named Sorrow, two white
European indentured servants named Willard and Scully, and
more. Morrison’s story provides an insightful look into a
time when the burgeoning American economy was being built on
the institution of slavery, but slavery was not yet defined
by race. A Mercy is a rich and accurate portrait of
this early American society, and the people who struggled to
survive within it.
Ticket,
Table and Sponsorship Information
Sponsorships
for tables of ten begin at $10,000, and individual tickets
are $1000 and $2500. Reservations are strictly limited. For
information or to purchase tickets, tables or sponsorships,
visit
www.chicagopubliclibraryfoundation.org or contact
Rebecca Spence, event coordinator at (312) 201-9830 or
rspence@cplfoundation.org.
About The
Chicago Public Library Foundation and the
Chicago Public Library
The
Chicago Public Library Foundation
was founded in 1986 as a true public/private partnership
with the City of Chicago to ensure the margin of excellence
for Chicago’s outstanding Library. Through the support of
many civic-minded individuals, corporations and foundations,
the Foundation provides on-going funding for collections and
a variety of community-responsive programs include the
Summer Reading Program, Teachers in the Library,
CyberNavigators, and One Book, One Chicago. In the past 24
years, the Foundation has provided more than $30 million in
support to the Chicago’s Public Library.
Since 1873,
the Chicago Public Library has encouraged lifelong
learning by welcoming all people and offering equal access
to information, entertainment and knowledge through
materials,
programs and cutting-edge technology.
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