A hallmark of the annual Carl Sandburg Literary Awards Dinner
is that guests of the event are joined by a Chicago writer at their
table. Today, the Chicago Public Library Foundation announced
approximately 70 writers that will be celebrated at the Dinner, held
Wednesday, Oct. 22 at the Forum on the campus of University of Illinois
at Chicago, 725 W. Roosevelt Road. The writers will join honorees
Doris Kearns Goodwin and
Larry McMurtry, who will receive Carl Sandburg Literary Awards; 21st Century Award-winner
Veronica Roth; and the first-ever recipient of the Carl Sandburg Award for the Arts
, Mavis Staples, as well as emcee
Bill Kurtis and moderator
Scott Simon.
The comprehensive list of authors and artists in attendance is as
follows: Susan Applebaum, Blue Balliett, Ronald Balson, Elizabeth Berg,
Jeanne Bishop, Eula Biss, Roger Bonair-Agard, Bonnie Jo Campbell, Philip
Caputo, Hillary Chute, Kim Clark, Herb Cohen, Rich Cohen, Elizabeth
Crane, Pamela Cullerton, Jim DeWan, Doug Feldmann, Steve Fiffer, Sharon
Fiffer, Jonathan Fineberg, Tony Fitzpatrick, Richard Fizdale, Virginia
Gerst, Golda Goldbloom, James W. Graham, Paula Haney, Neil Harris, Miles
Harvey, Margaret Hawkins, Bill Hillmann, Mark Jacob, Hollye Jacobs,
Scott Jacobs, Doris Kearns Goodwin, James Klise, Bill Kurtis,
Christopher Lane, Rebecca Makkai, Marianne Malone, Jonathan Marshall,
Eric Charles May, Cris Mazza, Judith Paine McBrien, Kent McDill, Larry
McMurtry, Patricia Ann McNair, Donna Mebane, Pamela Meyer, Alec Michod,
Marja Mills, Dr. Robert Moore, Nami Mun, Caroline Myss, Sara Paretsky,
Rick Perlstein, Jacquy Pfeiffer, Nancy Pick, Joyce Piven, Martin Preib,
Veronica Roth, Richard Saul M.D., Christine Sneed, Mavis Staples, Julia
Sweeney, Matthew Thomas, Scott Turow, Roopa Weber, Patricia Werhane and
Harvey Young.
The Carl Sandburg Literary Awards Dinner will take place on Wednesday,
October 22, 2014 at The Forum (725 W. Roosevelt Road) on the campus of
the University of Illinois at Chicago. Attracting 750 members of
Chicago’s civic and cultural communities each year, the celebration is
one of the city’s most popular social and philanthropic events. This
year it is chaired by
Mark Furlong, Chairman and CEO of BMO Harris Bank, and Foundation Director
Carlette McMullan, a principal at William Blair & Co. It is produced by Foundation Director
Donna La Pietra. The Foundation is led by Board Chair
Robert A. Wislow and President and CEO
Rhona Frazin. The Chicago Public Library is led by Board President
Linda Johnson Rice and Commissioner
Brian Bannon.
Broadcasting legend
Bill Kurtis will be the emcee for
the event. All authors will be introduced on stage, and the awards
ceremony will follow dinner. The evening will culminate with an onstage
conversation with McMurtry and Kearns Goodwin moderated by author and
National Public Radio host
Scott Simon, and will conclude with a post-dinner book-signing and dessert reception.
Funds raised from the evening will support the Chicago Public Library
Foundation, which funds life-long learning initiatives of the Chicago
Public Library including the Summer Learning Challenge; One Book, One
Chicago; Teacher in the Library and CyberNavigators. The Sandburg Dinner
is presented annually by the Chicago Public Library Foundation in
partnership with the Chicago Public Library.
“One of the things that makes Chicago great is the commitment of the
business and philanthropic communities to create educational
opportunities for all ages through our Library,” said Library
Commissioner Brian Bannon. “I am truly grateful for the incredible
support of the Chicago Public Library Foundation and its many dedicated
donors for their work in helping to make the Chicago Public Library a
national leader.”
Past winners of the prestigious Carl Sandburg Literary Award are
Michael Lewis,
Isabel Allende,
Don DeLillo,
Walter Isaacson,
Roger Ebert,
Toni Morrison,
David McCullough,
Robert Caro,
Joyce Carol Oates,
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.,
Kurt Vonnegut,
John Updike,
David Mamet,
Nikki Giovanni,
Tom Wolfe and
Salman Rushdie.
Sponsorship packages for tables of eight guests and a celebrated author
are available at $50,000, $25,000, $15,000 and $10,000 levels.
Individual tickets are $1,000 and $2,500. Reservations are strictly
limited. For information or to purchase tickets, tables or sponsorships,
visit cplfoundation.org or contact Louis Schermerhorn at the Chicago
Public Library Foundation at (312) 201-9830 x 25 or email
lschermer@cplfoundation.org.
BMO Harris Bank is the Presenting Sponsor of the 2014 Carl Sandburg Literary Awards Dinner.
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
Learning Challenge, Teacher in the Library, CyberNavigators, YOUmedia
and One Book, One Chicago. In the past 28 years, the Foundation has
provided $55 million in support to the Chicago Public Library.
Since 1873, the
Chicago Public Library has encouraged
lifelong learning by welcoming all people and offering equal access to
information, ideas and knowledge through materials, programs and
cutting-edge technology. The Chicago Public Library system has 80
library locations throughout the city including the flagship Harold
Washington Library Center, all providing free access to a rich
collection of books, DVDs, audio books and music; the Internet and WiFi;
online resources; newspapers and magazines. In 2014, the Library
continues to serve as neighborhood cultural centers, presenting author
discussions, exhibits, homework help and technology programs for
children, teens and adults. Chicago Public Library has been hailed for
its leadership role in supporting smart cities in a knowledge economy
through innovative services and programs. CPL recently received the
Social Innovator Award from Chicago Innovation Awards; the National
Medal for Library Services from the Institute for Museum and Library
Services and was ranked number one in the U.S. and third in the world by
an international study of major urban libraries conducted by the
Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf in Germany.
About the Honorees
Doris Kearns Goodwin is a world-renowned presidential
historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author. She is the author of six
critically acclaimed and New York Times best-selling books, including
her most recent, “The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard
Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism” (November, 2013). DreamWorks
Studios has acquired the film rights to the book. Goodwin previously
worked with Stephen Spielberg on the film “Lincoln,” based in part on
her award-winning “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham
Lincoln.”
Goodwin was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in history for “No Ordinary
Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II,”
and is the author of the bestsellers “Wait Till Next Year,” “Lyndon
Johnson and the American Dream” and “The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys,”
which was adapted into an award-winning five-part TV miniseries.
Goodwin is well known for her appearances and commentary on television,
where she is seen frequently on NBC, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, CNN, “The
Charlie Rose Show” and “Meet the Press.” Other appearances include “The
Oprah Winfrey Show,” “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “The Daily Show
with Jon Stewart,” “The Colbert Report” and many more. She earned a
Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University, where she taught
Government, including a course on the American Presidency. She served as
an assistant to President Lyndon Johnson in his last year in the White
House, and later assisted President Johnson in the preparation of his
memoirs. She has been previously honored with the Charles Frankel Prize,
given by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Sarah Josepha
Hale medal and the Lincoln Prize.
She resides in Concord, Massachusetts, with her husband, the writer,
presidential advisor, speechwriter and playwright Richard N. Goodwin.
She was the first woman to enter the Boston Red Sox locker room, and is a
devoted fan of the World Series-winning team.
Larry McMurtry is
the author of 29 novels, including “The Last Picture Show,” “Terms of
Endearment,” “Folly and Glory,” and “Lonesome Dove,” winner of the 1986
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. His nonfiction works include a biography of
Crazy Horse, “Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen,” “Paradise” and
“Sacagawea’s Nickname: Essays on the American West.” Many of his works
have been adapted for film and television, including “Hud” (from the
novel “Horseman, Pass By”); the Peter Bogdanovich-directed classic “The
Last Picture Show;” James L. Brooks' “Terms of Endearment,” which won
five Academy Awards, including Best Picture of 1984; and “Lonesome
Dove,” which became a popular television mini-series starring Tommy Lee
Jones and Robert Duvall. In 2006, he and co-writer Diana Ossana received
the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for “Brokeback Mountain,”
adapted from a short story by E. Annie Proulx. He lives in Archer City,
Texas.
Veronica Roth is
the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the “Divergent” book
series. The first installment of the trilogy, “Divergent,” was released
in May 2011, followed by “Insurgent” in May of 2012. The third novel in
the trilogy, “Allegiant,” was published in October 2013. To date, book
sales exceed 11 million copies for all three novels combined, and ebook
sales for all three titles have set records in the publishing industry.
The series has also been published internationally.
A graduate of Northwestern University’s creative writing program, Roth
often chose to work on the story that would become “Divergent” instead
of doing her homework. Now a full-time writer, Roth and her husband
call the Chicago area home.
Mavis Staples is a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, a
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner, and a National Heritage
Fellowship Award recipient. Listed as one of Rolling Stone’s 100
Greatest Singers of all times, she is also one of a few living musicians
who can lay claim to being the voice of America's conscience. She
continues to make vital music to this day.
As both a solo singer and as lead vocalist for the family group she is
so identified with, the Staple Singers, lifelong Chicagoan Mavis Staples
has managed to transform herself as she goes, yet never alter. From the
delta-gospel sound she helped pioneer in the 1950s, to the engaged
protest of the civil rights era, to a series of soul radio anthems in
the 1970s, to her Prince-produced albums in the 1980s, to her
Grammy-winning album in 2011, Staples has carried on, her warm embrace
of a voice the only constant.
Her album "You Are Not Alone," won the 2011 Grammy Award for Best
Americana Album--the first Grammy of her career, at age 73--adding a
remarkable new chapter to an already historic body of work. Her most
recent album, the second collaboration with producer Jeff Tweedy of
Wilco, is the Grammy-nominated "One True Vine," a gospel album crafted
for the 21
st century.
Wednesday, October 22nd - Kate Gray with special guest 
Saturday, October 25th - Sappho's Salon
Time: Seeing the Sacred Outside Your Kitchen Door 
