Tom Wolfe Awarded 2008 Carl Sandburg Literary Award. Chicago Mystery Writer Theresa Schwegel Selected as 21st Century Honoree

October 20, 2008

Author and journalist Tom Wolfe receives the 2008 Carl Sandburg Literary Award, presented annually by the Chicago Public Library Foundation and the Chicago Public Library in honor of a significant body of work that has enhanced public awareness of the written word.

The 21st Century Award, honoring recent achievement in writing by an author with ties to Chicago, was awarded to crime fiction and mystery writer Theresa Schwegel. Both awards were presented at a fundraising dinner for the Chicago Public Library Foundation on October 15, 2008 at the Harold Washington Library Center, chaired by civic leaders Deborah Bricker and John Bryan.

Tom Wolfe's talent first came to public attention with the publication of The Kandy Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, a collection of articles about the "flamboyant '60s" which established Wolfe as a leading figure in what would come to be known as New Journalism. The Right Stuff his account of the psychology of rocket pilots and astronauts in the early days of the space program won national acclaim and the American Book Award for Nonfiction. His non-fiction work has focused extensively on the worlds of art, architecture and popular culture. His novels The Bonfire of the Vanities, A Man in Full, and I Am Charlotte Simmons are known for their detailed realism andhave topped most prominent bestseller lists. He is currently at work on Back to Blood, a look at "class, family, wealth, race, crime, sex, corruption, and ambition" set against the backdrop of Miami's immigrant communities. Publication is scheduled for 2009.

Theresa Schwegel's 2005 book, Officer Down, won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel in that year. Her second novel, Probable Cause, was a New York Times Editor's Choice in 2007, and Person of Interest, which was published in December, has received outstanding notice in the Chicago Tribune and New York Times. A native of the Chicago area who has recently returned to Chicago, Schwegel is a graduate of Loyola University and has worked in film production and theater in Chicago and Los Angeles.

Past winners of the prestigious Carl Sandburg Literary Award include David McCullough, Robert Caro, Joyce Carol Oates, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Kurt Vonnegut, John Updike, David Mamet and Nikki Giovanni.