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As of April 25, 2016 this event has been cancelled.

The Chicago Public Library Foundation and Chicago Public Library present a Carl Sandburg Literary Award to Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winner Alice Walker in a special free, public event at 6:00 p.m., Wednesday, May 25 in the Winter Garden of the Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State, 9th Floor. The esteemed author has published more than 30 books, including novels, short stories, collections of poems and non-fiction.

Walker is best known for The Color Purple, her 1982 masterpiece, written as a series of letters which tell the stories of Celie, an uneducated, poor woman in the South, her younger sister Nettie and the glamorous jazz singer Shug Avery. One of the best-loved books of the past 50 years, The Color Purple was adapted into an Academy Award-nominated film directed by Stephen Spielberg, and a Tony Award-winning musical.

Walker will come to Chicago to receive the award Wednesday, May 25, and will participate in a conversation to discuss her body of work, her influences and her creative process, hosted by Johnson Publishing Company Chairman Linda Johnson Rice, the Board Chair of Chicago Public Library. The event is free and open to the public.