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=Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks by Kelsey Elaine Suttenfield= Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was born on June 7, 1917. She was born in Topeka, Kansas but raised in Chicago, Illinois by her parents, Keziah Wims Brooks and David Anderson Brooks. Just sixteen months later Keziah gave birth to a son. As a child Brooks parents read stories and sand songs to her and her brother. By the age of four Brooks could recite poetry in front of her church congregation. Little did everyone know about how much she would love poetry in the future.

Gwendolyn Brooks was a very quiet person. When Brooks began elementary school, she felt overwhelmed. She loved to go to school and learn, but she didn't know how to be social. The children at her school were rude and condescending. They looked down on Brooks because of her dark skin and "black hair". The Brooks' family didn't have much money and they made most of their children's clothes. Many of the children at Gwendolyn's school were from wealthy families and made fun of her because of that. This made her childhood rough. Being rejected by her peers caused her to become more shy and withdrawn. To find comfort from she began to write.

Around this time Brooks' mother got her a library card. Gwendolyn would check out five or six books at a time and read them very quickly. At seven years old she was already writing two-line verses. When she was eleven she had already filled up notebooks with her writings. Her mother saw how well Brooks wrote and made her chores shorter so she could devote more time to writing. Brooks was twelve years old when the Stock Market Crash of 1929 happened. This would make her family struggle severely.

At the age of thirteen, Brooks' father gave her an old desk for her to write on. She began to write at least one poem a day. To her joy she had her first poem published in print called "Eventide" in the American Childhood magazine. She began to make friends at school, too. Brooks didn't spend much time with them though because she loved to spend her time writing more. In high school she dealt with social issues as she did in elementary school. Brooks didn't care about popularity or being pretty. This would cause her to change schools several times. She would end up at Englewood High School, an integrated school.

A few years later Brooks met the famous poet Langston Hughes. She showed him her poems and her read them. Hughes encouraged her to continue reading and writing. He would even write of her in his news column to tell others of her talent and promise to write wonderful works. Brooks would stay in close touch with Hughes the rest of her life.

By the time Brooks was eighteen years old she had published seventy-five poems in the Chicago Defender, which was an all black newspaper After graduating from Englewood High School she attended Wilson Junior College and majored in English. She worked for a short while as a cleaning lady and secretary. During these years she went to poetry workshops as Chicago's South Side Community Art Center. Some work that she wrote there would later be seen in her first published volume in 1945 called __A Street Bronzeville.__

On September 17, 1939, Gwendolyn married Henry Blakely. They would have two children. In 1949, Brooks published her second poetry collection called __Annie Allen.__ This collection would make her the first African American to receive the Pulitzer Prize (1950). In 1945 she would be named one of ten women of the year in Mademoiselle magazine. From 1985 to 1986, Brooks served as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. This was a great honor. In 1989 she would receive the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Gwendolyn Brooks died at the age of 83 on December 3, 2000. Gwendolyn Brooks' vision as a writer was to let people know of poverty, racism, and class issues in black life. Brooks' repeatedly writes on the issues of gender and race. These were the things that affected her as a child. Brooks' goal in life seemed to be contributing to the awareness of black life. She did well in accomplishing this having published at least 30 works in her life time. Gwendolyn Brooks once said "I deplore blanket detestation of any group". This just shows you how hard she worked to show that everyone is equal.

Bomarito, Jessica. "Gwedolyn Brooks." __Feminism in Literature: A Gale Critical Companion.__ Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Detroit:Thomson Gale, 2005. 175-177.
 * Annotated Bibliography**

The book __Feminism in Literature__ by Jessica Bomartio was helpful because it listed all of Gwendolyn Brooks' principal works. There is also a good section on criticism of her work. I would recommend they add more photographs of the author or covers of her published work. It would make the reader more interested if they had something more to look at. I would not recommend this to other students because the information isn't very long.

"Brooks, Gwendolyn (1917-)." //DISCovering Biography.// Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. //Student Resource Center - Gold.// Gale. Fuquay Varina high School/WCPS/.21 May. 2008. http://www.galenet.com/servlet/srcx

The article "Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-) was not very helpful. The only information I got out of it was the list of Brooks' books and her awards. The information wasn't up to date. It didn't even list her death. I recommend them go back and update everything so it is more useful. I plan on using the information I gathered to tell how many works she had and list some of her awards. I would not recommend this to students who are looking for helpful information.

Peck, David. "Gwendolyn Brooks." __American Ethnic Writers.__ Ed. Tracey Irons-Georges. Pasadena, 2000. 74-77.

The book __American Ethnic Writers__ by David Peck contains useful information of Gwendolyn Brooks' poetry. The article helps the reader learn the facts on why Brooks' wrote of black culture. I plan on using this information to explain Gwendolyn Brooks' vision as a writer. I would recommend they add a few more summaries on her other poems so the article covers more of her work. I would recommend this to other students because it helps to realize her reasoning behind her writing.

Ruby, Mary K. "The Sonnet-Ballad." __Poetry for Students.__ Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Detroit, 1998. 230-245.

The book __Poetry for Students__ by Mary K. Ruby gives plenty of information on Gwendolyn Brooks' life. It also breaks down and interprets lines from her poems. The article breaks the information up by using subtitles, which helps the reader find facts more easily. The article also goes into great detail about her writings. I plan on using the information I gathered to help write about her life. I learned from this article that Brooks' worked for the NAACP. I would recommend them shortening the length of the poetry summary. I would recommend this to students for them to see a summary of her life.

Sickels, Amy. "Biography of Gwendolyn Brooks." __Bloom's BioCritiques:Gwendolyn Brooks__ (2005). Literary Reference Center. <[|http://search.ebscohost.com>.]

The article "Biography of Gwendolyn Brooks" by Amy Sickels was a fantastic help to me. The article had everything you could need to write this paper. The article had topics that include poetry, civil rights, African American children, race, and identity. I plan on using the information I gathered to write most of my paper. I would recommend them shortening the details on Brooks' editor. I would recommend this to students to get most of their information. It is excellent.