A Surprised Queenhood in the New Black Sun

The Life & Legacy of Gwendolyn Brooks

By: Angela Jackson

Narrated by: Janina Edwards

A look back at the cultural and political force of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks, in celebration of her 100th birthday

Artist - Rebel - Pioneer

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks is one of the great American literary icons of the 20th century, a protégé of Langston Hughes and mentor to a generation of poets, including Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, and Elizabeth Alexander.

Her poetry took inspiration from the complex portraits of Black American life she observed growing up on Chicago's South Side - a world of kitchenette apartments and vibrant streets. From the desk in her bedroom, as a child she filled countless notebooks with poetry, encouraged by the likes of Hughes and affirmed by Richard Wright, who called her work "raw and real".

Over the next 60 years, Brooks' poetry served as witness to the stark realities of urban life: the evils of lynching, the murders of Emmett Till and Malcolm X, the revolutionary effects of the civil rights movement, and the burgeoning power of the Black Arts Movement. Critical acclaim and the distinction in 1950 as the first Black person ever awarded a Pulitzer Prize helped solidify Brooks as a unique and powerful voice.

Now, in A Surprised Queenhood in the New Black Sun, fellow Chicagoan and award-winning writer Angela Jackson delves deep into the rich fabric of Brooks' work and world. Granted unprecedented access to Brooks' family, personal papers, and writing community, Jackson traces the literary arc of this artist's long career and gives context for the world in which Brooks wrote and published her work. It is a powerfully intimate look at a once-in-a-lifetime talent up close, using 43 of Brooks' most soul-stirring poems as a guide.

From trying to fit in at school ("Forgive and Forget") to loving her physical self ("To Those of My Sisters Who Kept Their Naturals") to marriage and motherhood ("Maud Martha") to young men on her block ("We Real Cool") to breaking history ("Medgar Evers") to newfound acceptance from her community and her elevation to a "surprising queenhood" ("The Wall"), Brooks lived life through her work.

Jackson deftly unpacks it all for both longtime admirers of Brooks and newcomers curious about her interior life. A Surprised Queenhood in the New Black Sun is a commemoration of a writer who negotiated Black womanhood and incomparable brilliance with a changing, restless world - an artistic maverick way ahead of her time.

©2017 Angela Jackson (P)2017 Random House Audio

Brilliant!

Such an honor to have access to a literary genius. Inspiration at it's finest. Thank you, Mrs. Brooks. Thank you.

Gwendolyn Brooks biography...truly great American

...while reading Chris Matthews book, Kennedy, A Raging Spirit, Gwendolyn Brooks' name came up and, following the trail I found this book by Angela Jackson. This book connected a lot of dots for me in regards my relationships w my Afro American bros n sisters. Enlightening, stabilizing, reassuring. I love my brown bros n sisters....alike yet distinctly different, we are. Angela Jackson's recall of GB's life/art invites us to communicate w each other across race lines, utilizing articulate, intellectual exchange...without cupidity, bare and honest. My favorite aspect of Brooks is how she reached back to help others after she attained success. She saw her role as bigger than herself. Good art is timeless...great artists are compassionate. Angela Jackson recounts the heroic life that is Gwendolyn Brooks.

This is more like a story-book for adults

For the last couple of weeks I’ve been listening to historical narratives of 20th century artists and activists. Marables 2011 “A Life of Reinvention,” Perry’s “Looking for Lorraine,” and so on. I was incredibly excited to find a audiobook about the life and work of Gwendolyn Brooks. Unfortunately this book is not a narrative history, third person memoir or autobiography. The best way I can think to describe it is it’s like a historical story-book for adults. It essentially recounts everything Brooks and her family have ever said about Brooks’ life as absolute truth. There is no critical engagement with the narrative around Brooks’ life, there doesn’t seem to be any additional interview or archive work that explores the poets’ difficulties in life, within her family dynamic, or with other people. EXCEPT around the colorism of Black people at her school and Black women in her neighborhood. It seems hard to believe that given Brooks’ life and legacy, the only criticism she ever had was for the Black people closest to her. But never her family, and it certainly never critically engaged her dynamic with her husband or children. It also barely, if ever critically examined her dynamic with white power brokers in the poetry space. I did my best to hold on, but after three hours I had to return it. Hopefully I can find a more substantial treatment of Brooks’ life and work elsewhere.