If he didn't exactly invent the classic Chicago blend of grit and romanticism, he was perhaps its greatest icon and practitioner. No one has better captured the "rusty, iron heart of the city" than Algren's Chicago: City on the Make, which holds tremendous stylistic and thematic sway over most Chicago writers even today, including...

Algren's grit and romanticism but with a searching philosophical skepticism that elevated him to Nobel Laureate status. His Augie March is one of the greatest American epics--showing, in a way, how much better America might be like if Chicago were its first city instead of New York or L.A.

The first Black writer to win the Pulitzer Prize. Illinois' poet laureate. Author of classic poems ("We realcool," "The Mother," "The Bean Eaters," etc. etc.), she was not only among the small handful of Americas's greatest poets, but also revered for her encompassing grace, mentoring of other writers, dedication to youth, and community service.

The first Black to win a Tony Award. Raisin in the Sun continues to be one of the half dozen most definitive plays of the American theater, and To Be Young, Gifted and Black one of the summits of American memoir. If I were asked to name only two writers that could encompass the "meaning of Chicago"--if such a unitary thing exists--I would say read Hansberry and Algren.

One of Chicago's first big literary stars, Johnson's poetic range was great--from the dialect poems popular during his day to some of the most searing lyrics in American poetry. He shocked the general American public--which wanted to believe that Blacks were happy with their lot--with expressions of Black despair and rage. He's an often overlooked American master.

His Native Son brought issues of race and rage and social class to the forefront not only of American literature, but America's general consciousness. Though perennially controversial, he still often ranks in the top three of greatest American Black writers, along with Toni Morrison and Langston Hughes.