Gwendolyn Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas, in 1917. She grew up mainly in Chicago. She is the author of more than 20 books of poetry. Her book Annie Allen received the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1949. She was the first African American to receive a Pulitzer Prize for poetry. In 1968, she was named Poet Laureate for the state of Illinois. In 1985 and1986, she was the consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress. In 1990, she went to teach as a professor of English at Chicago State University. The university formed and built the Gwendolyn Brooks Center. The center's mission is to strengthen the study of literature, to encourage the pursuit of creative writing, and to promote the study of black writers. Brooks currently lives in Chicago.