My daughter and I left the guys to their own devices on Sunday and took the walk down Michigan Avenue to the museum, tucked away on the second floor of a building a few blocks away from Cloud Gate in Millennium Park.
At first, I thought we would be one of only a handful of patrons, but by the time we left two hours later a sizeable crowd had trickled in. We started in a thoughtfully-constructed and airy gallery devoted to children’s book authors. From there we explored an interactive timeline of works that spanned 400 years, designed to engage all five of the senses.
Another permanent exhibit featured 100 authors and playwrights, ranging from the 1600s to the 1980s, including many underrepresented voices. Memories of history I learned as a child came back to me as I walked through the different sections: Colonial Visions & Revolution, The New Nation, Many Voices, Modernism, and New Voices. I liked that my 23-year-old daughter was also exposed to the many creatives and reporters that comprised The Cold War and 1960s Counterculture, as well as leaders in social activism.
We explored a special gallery dedicated to the visionary voices of Chicago, such as Lorraine Hansberry, Gwendolyn Brooks, Carl Sandburg, and Roger Ebert. Another exhibit honored immigrant and refugee experiences, and visitors are invited to share their family’s stories and leave them behind for others to read.
A temporary exhibit this year titled “American Prophets: Writers, Religion, and Culture” explores the ways literature reflects and influences our understanding of religion. The “Tools of the Trade” exhibit was especially interesting, showing various tools writers throughout history have used in their creative process, including an Underwood typewriter favored by Ernest Hemingway and a braille writer utilized by Helen Keller. We even got to test out a few antique typewriters ourselves!
Part of the museum is devoted to helping writers jumpstart their own mental blocks around writing. Interactive exhibits offered up writing prompts, and we were allowed to type up a letter sharing our thoughts on the museum, permitting our words to become a permanent part of the exhibit.
I walked away from the museum inspired and less fearful of sharing my own words (I’ve been working on a new novel that has a lot of autobiographical elements in it, which has given me pause more than a few times).
But as I read the words of such strong and intelligent writers like Octavia Spencer, Ralph Ellison, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and Flannery O’Connor, I realized I need not be so fearful. Our lives would be boring if every writer said the same thing and didn’t weave in their own experiences and opinions in for perspective. This was one time where I didn’t mind the social media influence that guided me to this enriching museum experience.
The American Writers Museum is located at 180 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago.
Renee Roberson is an award-winning writer who also produces the weekly true crime podcast, Missing in the Carolinas.
0 comments:
Post a Comment