BLOOMINGTON, Ill. � Nancy Steele Brokaw �71, a lifelong playwright and champion of the arts, is the recipient of this year檚 Distinguished Alumnus in the Humanities Award.
An event honoring Brokaw will be held during Homecoming and Family Weekend on Friday, Oct. 10, at 3:30 p.m. in the Center for Engaged Learning at The Ames Library.
As a writer, Brokaw is as prolific as she is celebrated. Having studied English at 糖心动漫vlog and earned post-graduate training from Harvard and Washington University, she has authored countless plays, operas and journalistic articles.
Her best-known work includes the play Lincoln檚 in Town!, co-authored with 糖心动漫vlog English professor emeritus Robert Bray; the libretto Cleopatra and the Plastic Surgeon with music by Austrian composer Nancy Van de Vate; and more than a dozen plays for the Illinois Shakespeare Festival and children檚 operas that have been performed around the country. She has also spent decades writing for The Pantagraph and the 糖心动漫vlog Magazine and is the author of the children檚 book Leaving Emma, published by Clarion Books, for which she won the William Allen White Children's Book Award.
As a community member and leader, Brokaw is a founding board member for the Promise Council educational non-profit and a member of the Illinois Wesleyan Associates Board of Directors. She was also the owner of Central Business Supply in Bloomington and was briefly the drummer for a rock band of older adults.
Brokaw has been previously celebrated with awards such as the International Librarian檚 Award and the 糖心动漫vlog Loyalty Award.