Sandburg Days Events at Sandburg Birthplace

As part of the 23rd annual Carl Sandburg Festival in Galesburg, Rex Cherrington will present the program “Carl Sandburg’s Galesburg” on Sat., April 28 at 10:30 a.m. – and a Writers Workshop presented by local authors will follow from 1-3 p.m. that same day – at the Carl Sandburg State Historic Site’s Barn in Galesburg.

Cherrington’s audio-visual presentation entitled “Carl Sandburg’s Galesburg” will feature places that were important to Sandburg from his birth until he left Galesburg to pursue his career in writing. These are mostly in the neighborhoods of the birthplace, the boyhood homes and the Lombard College campus, along with some businesses and homes on the north side of Galesburg. The narrative will be based upon the memories shared by Sandburg in works including Always the Young Strangers and Ever the Winds of Chance.

Historian Rex Cherrington has pursued his passion for local history through research, writing, giving talks, and providing tours for state and local organizations devoted to history and genealogy. He has been active in the Galesburg Historical Society, the Carl Sandburg Historic Site Association, and the Knox County Genealogical Society

The Writers Workshop from 1-3 p.m. on April 28 at the Sandburg Site’s Barn will be led by local authors Susan Van Kirk and Jim Jacobs. Topics will include the importance of the first five pages of a mystery, and decisions you must make when you are planning and writing a novel. There will also be time for questions.

James V. Jacobs was educated at Marion College (now Indiana Wesleyan University) and Western Illinois University. While in college, he worked in the Civil Rights Movement with National Urban League affiliates in Indiana. After college, Jacobs taught fifth grade in the Galesburg Public Schools for 35 years. Upon retiring from the Galesburg schools, he taught writing for 10 years at Carl Sandburg Community College in Galesburg. Jacobs recently published his first novel, No Ordinary Season.

Susan Van Kirk is a writer of short stories, mysteries, and a creative non-fiction memoir about teaching. Her first mystery, Three May Keep a Secret, was published by Five Star/Cengage in the fall of 2014. A novella about her detective, The Locket: From the Casebook of TJ Sweeney, was released in the spring of 2016 as an e-book. Five Star published the second novel in the series, Marry in Haste, in the fall of 2016. The last novel of the trilogy, Death Takes No Bribes, came out the following spring. A high school and college teacher for 44 years, Van Kirk has always been interested in mysteries since she read the entire Sherlock Holmes series at an early age.

The “Carl Sandburg’s Galesburg” program and Writers Workshop are both open to the public and are free of charge on April 28. The Carl Sandburg State Historic Site – operated by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources – includes the home where the famed poet and biographer was born.

For more information about the Carl Sandburg Festival, visit http://apps.sandburg.edu/festival.