This publication represents a 20-year supplement to Illinois! Illinois! An Annotated Bibliography of Fiction, compiled and written by Thomas L. Kilpatrick and Patsy-Rose Hoshiko, and published by Scarecrow Press in 1979. The original project consisted of bibliographic references, annotations, and references to book reviews for 1,554 works of fiction with Illinois settings. This supplement contains an additional 679 entries representing new books that have been written since 1976, the cut-off date for the original work, plus a few titles that were missed or could not be obtained for review prior to 1976.

This is not a comprehensive bibliography. The search process continues to turn up 19th and early 20th century fiction that the authors missed when putting together the original work. Although several early titles are included, the major emphasis of this bibliography is the literature of the years following World War II.

Those years have not been quiet ones for Illinois and its citizens, but neither has there been an event of significance to alter the course of the state’s history. 1968 was certainly an eventful year. Racial tension flared in Chicago and riots occurred in April protesting the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis. Quiet had hardly been restored before the Democratic National Convention again focused the eyes of the nation on Chicago, as thousands of political activists followed eager Democrats into the city to make their views known. Again there were riots in the streets as the business of the convention was eclipsed by unruly mobs gathered to protest the United States’ involvement in Vietnam. From there, unrest spread to college campuses throughout the state leading to protest marches and early closings at some universities the following spring. As with the Pullman Strike and the Haymarket Riot of the late 19th century, the racial unrest and the events of the Democratic National Convention and its aftermath are remembered as difficult times in the state’s history, but the significance of the incidents were historically and politically minor, and the fifty plus years since the end of World War II have been "business as usual."

Social change has been the most noticeable factor in Illinois’ development since the 1940s. The changing status of women and minorities has influenced business, the economy, the workplace, politics, education, the arts, and the family. Crime continues to be a factor throughout Illinois, as do the environment, ethnicity, religion, marriage and divorce, and political corruption. Issues that have surfaced as additional concerns are drug traffic and abuse, alternative sexual orientations, health and mental illness, child abuse, and a general decline in morality.

All of these issues have influenced Illinois literature during the years since 1945. In addition, Illinois literature seems to be on the rise. From the 1890s into the 1930s Chicago was a major literary center, with such writers as George Ade, Sherwood Anderson, Willa Cather, Theodore Dreiser, Finley Peter Dunn, Edna Ferber, Robert Herrick, Ring Lardner, and Edgar Lee Masters working in the city and writing about their interests and activities there. During the 1940 and 1950s, a literary malaise developed, which was not overcome until the 1970s. The 1970s, ‘80s, and ‘90s have experienced a revival of literary interest in Illinois, with such writers as Saul Bellow, Robert Coover and Gwendolyn Brooks maintaining the tradition established earlier, and pointing direction for new writers on the scene. Among the writers of note currently writing about Illinois are Maxine Chernoff, Leon Forrest, Ralph McInerny, Sara Paretsky, Harry Mark Petrakis, Richard Powers, and Richard Stern.

Much of the credit for the revival of interest in Illinois literature has come from the State itself, with the establishment of the Illinois State Library’s READ ILLINOIS program, the founding of the Illinois Center for the Book, and other programs to promote Illinois’ literature and writers. No longer do young writers feel it necessary to move to New York or Los Angeles to be near resources, publishers, and other writers. With access to libraries, writing programs, and a core support group of established writers in the state, young authors can find the support they need to ply their trade in any metropolitan area or university community in the state. The results are paying off, for the volume of Illinois literature had increased dramatically during the last twenty-five years, and the trend can only continue.

The Office of Research and Projects at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale provided funding for research assistance, travel, and supplies for the original project. The supplement was partially funded by a research grant from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale Library Affairs.

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