What is the Heartland? A swath
of land situated between the coasts? Sure, but it is also a place marked by
richly developed cultural traditions and an incubator for fresh, new ideas.
It's cities and small towns. It's apple pie and Alinea. It's a place to find a
home and to lose yourself.
This year's Literary Prize and
Heartland Prize winners — Edward Albee, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Thomas
Dyja — express those sentiments with writing that reflects the variety of
people, places and morals that make up the vast locale known as the Heartland.
The awards, which are presented by the Chicago Tribune in partnership with the
Chicago Humanities Festival, will be presented in November.
Adichie will receive the
Heartland Prize for fiction for her novel, "Americanah." A native of
Nigeria, Adichie writes about two Nigerians: Ifemelu, a driven, gorgeous girl
who leaves to study in America and her love, Obinze, a pensive, careful man.
When bureaucracy keeps Obinze out of America, he falls into a dangerous life in
London, while Ifemelu pursues an education and thrives as a blogger. After
years spent an ocean apart, the two reunite and fall in love, but their lives
are not as carefree as they were when they were young.
The Heartland Prize for
nonfiction will be given to Dyja for "The Third Coast." A detailed
look at the cultural fruit that Chicago bore, Dyja's book tells the story of
the change-makers who called the Windy City home. Mies van der Rohe, Ray Kroc,
the Chess brothers and Hugh Hefner were just a few. In a Printers Row Journal
review, Northwestern University lecturer Bill Savage called the book
"thoroughly thought-out, exquisitely structured and beautifully
written."
Chicago Tribune
0 comments:
Post a Comment