Gwendolyn Brooks was an ambitious woman with a sincere love for writing and poetry that blazed from an early age. The poet began her career in poetry at the age of 13, when she published her first poem in a children’s magazine, and later, she went on to win a Pulitzer Prize.
Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was born on June 7, 1917, in Topeka, Kansas. Her father, David Anderson Brooks, was a janitor. He aspired to be a doctor but decided to marry and raise a family instead. Her mother, Keziah Brooks, was both a school teacher and a classically trained pianist.
Brooks and her family moved to the South Side of Chicago when she was young. Her parents had moved to Chicago during the Great Migration but moved back to Topeka, Kansas, before Brook's birth to be closer to family. Brooks considered Chicago her hometown and stated that it deeply influenced her experiences and poetry.