BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Nancy Steele Brokaw ‘71, a lifelong playwright and champion of the arts, is the recipient of this year’s 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 IWU 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’s in Town!, co-authored with IWU 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’s operas that have been performed around the country. She has also spent decades writing for The Pantagraph and the Illinois Wesleyan University Magazine and is the author of the children’s 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’s Award and the Illinois Wesleyan University Loyalty Award.