lorraine hansberry the life behind a raisin in the sun

This dramatic telling of a passionate life-a very American life through self-reinvention-uses previously unpublished interviews with close friends in politics and theater, privately held correspondence, and deep research to reconcile old mysteries and raise new questions about a life not fully described until now. Many of the identity issues about class, sexuality, and race that she struggled with are relevant and urgent today. Shields’s authoritative biography of one of the twentieth century’s most admired playwrights examines the parts of Lorraine Hansberry’s life that have escaped public knowledge: the influence of her upper-class background, her fight for peace and nuclear disarmament, the reason why she embraced Communism during the Cold War, and her dependence on her white husband-her best friend, critic, and promoter. Hansberry was the first Black woman to have a play performed on Broadway, and the first Black and youngest American playwright to win a New York Critics’ Circle Award.Ĭharles J.

Click HERE to register!Ībout the Book: Written when she was just twenty-eight, Lorraine Hansberry’s landmark A Raisin in the Sun is listed by the National Theatre as one of the hundred most significant works of the twentieth century. We ask that attendees do us the courtesy of purchasing their copy of the book from The Book Stall or another participating bookstore. This program is free and open to the public. Shields will be in conversation with Alison Cuddy. Shields, the author of Mockingbird, the bestselling biography of Harper Lee, as he discusses his new book, Lorraine Hansberry: The Life Behind a Raisin in the Sun. We are so happy to partner with Macmillan publishing and our sister Chicago indie bookstores to present acclaimed biographer Charles J.

Lorraine hansberry the life behind a raisin in the sun