Chicago Literary Hall of Fame

Your gift to the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame by December 31 Will Be Doubled!

November 2, 2026

Dear CLHOF Community,

We remain grateful for your continued interest and support. I am pleased to share that as part of our 2026 year-end fundraising campaign, several generous donors have pledged matching gifts. Your gift to the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame by December 31 will be doubled!

For our general operating fund, two donors will match up to $12,000—meaning we can add $24,000 to bolster our programming efforts in 2027, including the annual Induction and Fuller Award ceremonies, several literary tours, a series of Great Chicago Books Club (GCBC) meetings, and discussions that showcase our Chicago authors.

Two additional donors will match up to $5,000 in gifts to our Randall Albers Young Writers Awards (RAYWA) fund. Your support will unlock $10,000 in new money for our youth programs, especially the RAYWA contest and recognition ceremony. Now in its fifth year, the RAYWA will open for submissions within the next month, with cash prizes offered for at least eight winning poetry and prose entries.

Follow our website donate link for the general fund or the RAYWA fund to donate through PayPal or credit card; send to Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, 4043 N. Ravenswood Ave. #222, Chicago, IL 60613 to pay via check.

Since 2010, CLHOF has celebrated, honored, and preserved Chicago’s great literary heritage—through ceremonies, discussions, tours, exhibits, prizes, and much more. Our work spotlights authors past, present, and future. In addition to our robust programming schedule, we also regularly create content focused on our authors, books, and literary community. We believe that literature is the foundation of a compassionate, thoughtful, creative society, and endeavor to be a positive influence on Chicago’s stellar cultural community.

With your participation, CLHOF accomplished a great deal in 2026. The following are several highlights:

Ed Roberson received the Fuller Award in a stirring ceremony at the Poetry Foundation.
Eleanor Taylor Bland, Stanley Elkin, Ronald Fair were inducted into the Hall at the Woodson Regional Library.
Eight talented young RAYWA winners, along with several honorable mentions, were recognized with cash prizes and certificates at a Harold Washington Library reading.
Chicago literature buffs enjoyed a Downtown literary walking tour and a Far South Side bus tour.
GCBC events featured Tony Fitzpatrick’s The Sun at the End of the Road, Caroline Macon Fleischer’s A Play About a Curse, Grady Chambers’s Great Disasters, and Elizabeth Marino’s Asylum.
We partnered with the American Literature Festival on a youth film showcase and a literary spirituality panel, and participated in Independent Bookstore Day, South Asian American Lit Fest, Arts in the Dark, Printers Row Lit Fest, and much more.

The majority of what we offer—including our Induction and Fuller Award ceremonies and RAYWA—is free and open to the general public. As a modest nonprofit organization, we rely on philanthropy for much of our operating capital.

CLHOF is able to do a lot with a little. Your year-end donation (to the general fund and/or the RAYWA fund) will have an outsized impact—enabling us to continue thriving and growing as we approach our 17^th year. Thank you very much for considering this request.

Yours,

Don Evans, Founding Executive Director

P.S. Please note that the latest tax legislation allows most filers a more generous deduction. Starting this year, single filers are now permitted to write off $1,000 and joint filers can write off $2,000. The tax laws are nuanced, so consult your accountant; but essentially, your cash donation to a qualified nonprofit, like the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, lowers your Adjusted Gross Income.

CLHOF’s 2026 Silent Auction Fundraiser Begins Friday, October 30

Since 2010, CLHOF has celebrated, honored, and preserved Chicago’s great literary heritage—through ceremonies, discussions, tours, exhibits, prizes, and much more. Our work supports past, present, and future authors. In addition to our rigorous programming schedule, we also create regular content focused on our authors, books, and literary community. We believe that literature is the foundation of a compassionate, thoughtful, creative society, and endeavor to be a positive influence on Chicago’s great cultural community.

We offer much of what we do—especially our induction and Fuller Award ceremonies, along with our Randall Albers Young Writers Awards—free to the general public. As a small nonprofit enterprise, we rely on individual contributions and a small number of fundraisers. Our major 2026 fundraiser is a silent auction that opens on October 30 and closes on December 10. Manuscript consultations, getaway stays, theatre and sports tickets, museum memberships, artwork and a lot else are amongst our offerings. Do yourself and us a favor and bid to win.

IAC Grants CLHOF Two Awards

The Illinois Arts Council recently informed the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame that it will award us an operational grant, as well as an additional grant to support summer youth employment in 2027. The IAC has consistently helped fund the CLHOF since our transition to our own nonprofit status more than a dozen years ago. The CLHOF is grateful for this support and will honor this commitment with our ongoing and growing activities to preserve and celebrate our city’s great literary heritage.

Former RAYWA Winner Named Chi Poet Laureate

Just more than a year ago, on Saturday, May 17, 2025, Lucy De Maio was honored as the third-place winner in the RAYWA prose category. Her story was called, “Tail of a Frog.” She returned to the Harold Washington Library Center this past Thursday, May 28, where she was selected as the 2026 Chicago Youth Poet Laureate. Over the next year, Lucy, a very recent graduate of Walter Payton College Prep, “will represent the city of Chicago through performances, civic engagements, and opportunities to share her voice across the city.” The other four finalists for the prestigious position were: Jehovanah Blahoua, Ellie Hersher-Dale, Rosemary Harte, and Yaya Lopez. Lucy will take over Chicago Youth Poet Laureate duties from Eila Kittikamron Mora. Previous winners were: E’Mon Lauren (2016-17), Patricia Fraizer (2017-18), and Kara Jackson (2018-19). The Chicago Youth Poet Laureate is a program Young Chicago Authors. Congratulations to Lucy—she’s going to make Chicago proud.