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Chicago Humanities Festival
The Chicago Humanities Festival is a non-profit organization which hosts an annual series of lectures, concerts, and films in Chicago, Illinois, United States. There are two seasons each year, including a spring festival from April through May, and a longer fall festival from September through November. The festival was started in 1989 by the Illinois Humanities Council and became an independent organization in 1997. Each year of programming is connected to a broader theme and covers a wide variety of topics in the arts, politics and society, and science and technology. Mission The Chicago Humanities Festival is designed to create opportunities for people to explore the humanities. History Under the aegis of the Illinois Humanities Council and its then-chairman Richard J. Franke, the notion of a "humanities day" was proposed, and then expanded into a "festival". Eileen Mackevich created the first Chicago Humanities Festival, a one-day affair, held on November 11, 1990, at the A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of United States cities by population, third-most populous city in the United States after New York City and Los Angeles. As the county seat, seat of Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, the List of the most populous counties in the United States, second-most populous county in the U.S., Chicago is the center of the Chicago metropolitan area, often colloquially called "Chicagoland" and home to 9.6 million residents. Located on the shore of Lake Michigan, Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837 near a Chicago Portage, portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, Mississippi River watershed. It grew rapidly in the mid-19th century. In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed several square miles and left more than 100,000 homeless, but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Ondaatje
Philip Michael Ondaatje (; born 12 September 1943) is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer and essayist. Ondaatje's literary career began with his poetry in 1967, publishing ''The Dainty Monsters'', and then in 1970 the critically acclaimed '' The Collected Works of Billy the Kid.'' His novel '' The English Patient'' (1992), adapted into a film in 1996 and won the 1992 Golden Man Booker Prize. Ondaatje has been "fostering new Canadian writing""Michael Ondaatje." In ''An Anthology of Canadian Literature in English'', edited by Donna Bennett and Russell Brown, 928-30. 3rd ed. Toronto, ON: Oxford University Press, 2010. with two decades commitment to Coach House Press (ca. 1970–1990), and his editorial credits include the journal ''Brick'', and the ''Long Poem Anthology'' (1979), among others. Early life and education Ondaatje was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 1943, to Major Mervyn Ondaatje and Doris Gratiaen of Tamil and Burgher descent ( Dutch and Sinhalese). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Betty Friedan
Betty Friedan (; February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006) was an American feminist writer and activist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book '' The Feminine Mystique'' is often credited with sparking the second wave of American feminism in the 20th century. In 1966, Friedan co-founded and was elected the first president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), which aimed to bring women "into the mainstream of American society now nfully equal partnership with men." In 1970, after stepping down as NOW's first president, Friedan organized the nationwide Women's Strike for Equality on August 26, the 50th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution granting women the right to vote. The national strike was successful beyond expectations in broadening the feminist movement; the march led by Friedan in New York City alone attracted over 50,000 people. In 1971, Friedan joined other leading feminists to est ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diane Ackerman
Diane Ackerman (born October 7, 1948) is an American poet, essayist, and naturalist known for her books and films. Education and career Ackerman received a Bachelor of Arts in English from Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Arts, Master of Fine Arts and Ph.D. from Cornell University. Among the members of her dissertation committee was Carl Sagan, an astronomer and the creator of the ''Cosmos'' television series. She has taught at a number of universities, including Columbia and Cornell. Her essays have appeared in ''The New York Times'', '' Smithsonian'', ''Parade'', ''The New Yorker'', ''National Geographic'', and many other journals. Her research has taken her to such diverse locales as Mata Atlantic in Brazil (working with endangered golden lion tamarins), Patagonia ( right whales), Hawaii ( humpback whales), California (tagging monarch butterflies at their overwintering sites), French Frigate Shoals ( monk seals), Toroshima, Japan (short-tailed albatross), Te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Wonder is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, R&B, Pop music, pop, Soul music, soul, Gospel music, gospel, funk, and jazz. A virtual one-man band, Wonder's use of synthesizers and other electronic musical instruments during the 1970s reshaped the conventions of contemporary R&B. He also helped drive such genres into the album era, crafting his LP record, LPs as cohesive and consistent, in addition to socially conscious statements with complex compositions. Visual impairment, Blind since shortly after his birth, Wonder was a child prodigy who signed with Motown's Tamla label at the age of 11, where he was given the professional name Little Stevie Wonder. Wonder's s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March22, 1930November26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. Regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theater, he is credited with reinventing the American musical. He received List of awards and nominations received by Stephen Sondheim, numerous accolades, including eight Tony Awards, an Academy Award, eight Grammy Awards, an Olivier Award, and the Pulitzer Prize. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1982, and awarded the Kennedy Center Honor in 1993 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. Sondheim was mentored at an early age by Oscar Hammerstein II and later frequently collaborated with Harold Prince and James Lapine. His Broadway theatre, Broadway musicals tackle themes that range beyond the genre's traditional subjects, while addressing darker elements of the human experience. His music and lyrics are tinged with complexity, sophistication, and ambivalence about various aspects of li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sherman Alexie
Sherman Joseph Alexie Jr. (born October 7, 1966) is a Native American novelist, short story writer, poet, screenwriter, and filmmaker. His writings draw on his experiences as an Indigenous American with ancestry from several tribes. He grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation and now lives in Seattle, Washington. His best-known book is the semi-autobiographical young adult novel, '' The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian'' (2007), which won the 2007 U.S. National Book Award for Young People's Literature and the Odyssey Award as best 2008 audiobook for young people (read by Alexie). He also wrote '' The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven'' (1993), a collection of short stories, which was adapted as the film '' Smoke Signals'' (1998), for which he also wrote the screenplay. His first novel, '' Reservation Blues'', received a 1996 American Book Award. His 2009 collection of short stories and poems, '' War Dances'', won the 2010 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scott Turow
Scott Frederick Turow (born April 12, 1949) is an American author and lawyer. Turow worked as a lawyer for a decade before writing full-time, and has written 13 fiction and three nonfiction books, which have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 30 million copies. Turow’s novels are set primarily among the legal community in the fictional Kindle County. Films have been based on several of his books. Life and career Turow was born in Chicago, to a family of Belarusian Jewish descent. His father was an M.D., but it was his mother Rita whom he credits as serving as his "beacon" and shaping him with her "love, support, and boundless faith in me." In contrast, his father wanted him to become a medical doctor. After ''Presumed Innocent (novel), Presumed Innocent'' became successful, his father told him, "I still think you could have gone to medical school." He attended New Trier High School and graduated from Amherst College in 1970, as a brother of the Alp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Wolfe
Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. (March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)Some sources say 1931; ''The New York Times'' and Reuters both initially reported 1931 in their obituaries before changing to 1930. See and was an American author and journalist widely known for his association with New Journalism, a style of news writing and journalism developed in the 1960s and 1970s that incorporated literary techniques. Much of Wolfe's work is satirical and centers on the counterculture of the 1960s and issues related to class, social status, and the lifestyles of the economic and intellectual elites of New York City. Wolfe began his career as a regional newspaper reporter in the 1950s, achieving national prominence in the 1960s following the publication of such best-selling books as '' The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test'' (an account of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters) and two collections of articles and essays, '' The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby'' and '' Radical Chic & Mau-Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marlo Thomas
Margaret Julia "Marlo" Thomas (born November 21, 1937) is an American actress, producer, author, and social activist. She is best known for starring on the sitcom ''That Girl'' (1966–1971) and her Children's television series, children's franchise ''Free to Be... You and Me''. She received three Primetime Emmy Awards, a Daytime Emmy Awards, Daytime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Awards, Golden Globe Award, and a Peabody Awards, Peabody Award for her work in television and was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame. She also received a Grammy Awards, Grammy Award for her Children's music, children's album ''Marlo Thomas and Friends: Thanks & Giving All Year Long''. In 2014, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Thomas serves as National Outreach Director for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which was founded by her father Danny Thomas in 1962. She created the Thanks & Giving campaign in 2004 to support the hospital. Early life Thomas was born in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David McCullough
David Gaub McCullough (; July 7, 1933 – August 7, 2022) was an American popular historian. He was a two-time winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. In 2006, he was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian award. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, McCullough earned a degree in English literature from Yale University. His first book was ''The Johnstown Flood (book), The Johnstown Flood'' (1968), and he wrote nine more on such topics as Harry S. Truman, John Adams, Theodore Roosevelt, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Panama Canal, and the Wright brothers. McCullough also narrated numerous documentaries, such as ''The Civil War (miniseries), The Civil War'' by Ken Burns, as well as the 2003 film ''Seabiscuit (film), Seabiscuit'', and he hosted the PBS television documentary series ''American Experience'' for twelve years. McCullough's two Pulitzer Prize–winning books—''Truman (book), Truman'' and ''John Adams (book), John Adams. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Safire
William Lewis Safire (; Safir; December 17, 1929 – September 27, 2009Safire, William (1986). ''Take My Word for It: More on Language.'' Times Books. . p. 185.) was an American author, columnist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter. He was a long-time syndicated political columnist for ''The New York Times'' and wrote the "On Language" column in ''The New York Times Magazine'' about popular etymology, new or unusual usages, and other language-related topics. Early life and education Safire was born William Lewis Safir in New York City, the son of Ida ( Panish) and Oliver Craus Safir. His family was Jewish and of Romanian origin on his father's side. Safire later added an "e" to his surname to better convey its pronunciation, while his brothers Leonard Safir and Matthew P. Safir continued to use the original spelling. Safire graduated from the Bronx High School of Science, a specialized public high school in New York City. He attended S. I. Newhouse School of Public C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
