Sandburg Award Honors Erik Larson, Scott Turow

Bestselling authors Erik Larson and Scott Turow will receive this year's Carl Sandburg Literary Award from the Chicago Public Library Foundation and the Chicago Public Library.

The Carl Sandburg Literary Awards Dinner will feature Larson and Turow on Wednesday, October 26 at The Forum on the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Best known in Chicago as the author of The Devil in the White City, Larson also wrote Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania and In the Garden of Beasts.


Former prosecutor Turow is the prolific author of legal thrillers such as Presumed Innocent and  Pleading Guilty, as well as nonfiction titles including Ordinary Heroes.


The Carl Sandburg Literary Award is presented annually to an acclaimed author in recognition of outstanding contributions to the literary world and honors a significant work or body of work that has enhanced the public's awareness of the written word.

Award-winning short story writer Amina Gautier, author of Now We Will Be Happy, will receive the 21st Century Award.

The 21st Century Award honors significant recent achievement in writing by a Chicago-based author. In presenting this award, the Foundation hopes to encourage the creation of new works and increase public awareness of the writer's talents.