This is working fine with SDL2

    SDL_Event event;
    int running = 1;    
    while (SDL_PollEvent(&event)) {
            if (event.type == SDL_QUIT) running = 0;
            if (event.type == SDL_KEYDOWN && event.key.keysym.sym == SDLK_l) {
                printf("l keystroke detected\n");
            }
        };