New Class Announced

Without further ado, the 5th class of the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame:

Margaret Anderson
David Hernandez
Edgar Lee Masters
Willard Motley
Shel Silverstein
Margaret Walker

We made the announcement last Thursday night at Roosevelt University's Angell Room, a lovely

Evans, Metz, Durica and Howe (from left to right) discuss the
new class. (Photo by Erin Kibby). 

Sullivan-designed library space that overlooks Buckingham Fountain and Lake Michigan. Paul Durica, Lawrence Howe and Robin Metz joined me in discussing the newly-selected authors and providing insight into the rationale for their inclusion.

The nomination process started before the last induction ceremony ended. An 11-person committee created ballots that included up to six candidates, along with rationale for inclusion. A five-person selection committee assembled last month to debate the candidates and come to a consensus.

I learned a lot listening to Robin, Paul and Larry elaborate on the authors.

Robin pointed out that Masters, whose reputation relies almost entirely on Spoon River Anthology, was actually a prolific author. Masters wrote volumes and volumes of poetry (nearly 30), ambitious biographies (Lincoln, Twain, Whitman and Lindsay, among them), novels, memoirs and essays.

Paul talked about Anderson's legacy of having built important literary communities in Chicago. As a central figure in the Chicago Literary Renaissance, Anderson formed close relationships with virtually all the important literary figures; she not only published significant writers in her The Little Review, but served as an ambassador to a whole range of writers. In essence, Anderson helped establish Chicago as a setting for a literary life.

Lawrence Howe at Thursday night's discussion.
(Photo by Erin Kibby). 

Larry pointed out that Silverstein was a Roosevelt undergraduate in English for three years, and in fact started his career as a cartoonist and writer for the school newspaper, The Torch.  Silverstein became famous for his children's books, but he was a highly respected song writer, playwright and essayist, among many interesting facets to his career.

We all pitched in to illuminate Motley and Walker, both gigantic talents in their eras. Walker wrote a poetry collection and novel that were both highly anticipated and then lauded, and she was a well-ensconsed part of Chicago's literary fraternity, including membership in the South Side Writers Group. Motley was considered one of the finest writers of his era; Nelson Algren once described himself, in an inscription, as "the poor man's Willard Motley." Motley penned some famous lines that live on, and gave us Nick Romano, a protagonist equal to Chicago's greatest literary heroes, like Frankie Machine, Studs Lonigan and Bigger Thomas.

Now is the fun part. The 5th Annual Induction Ceremony will take place Dec. 6, from 7-9 p.m., at Roosevelt University's Ganz Hall. In the next month, we'll start to identify all the best presenters and performers to help us out that evening, and track down living descendants of the inductees to accept the honors we'll bestow. I always like the process of shaping the ceremony and this year's eclectic mix of inductees should give rise to a number of interesting possibilities.

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Donald G. Evans is the founder and executive director of the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame. He is the author of the novel Good Money After Bad and short story collection An Off-White Christmas, as well as the editor of the anthology Cubbie Blues: 100 Years of Waiting Till Next Year. He is the Chicago editor of the Great Lakes Cultural Review. He serves on the American Writers Museum's Chicago Literary Council and the committee that selects the Harold Washington Literary Award.

donaldgevans@hotmail.com