Alice Walker is a vegetarian, gardener, world traveler and spiritual explorer. She lives in Mendocino, California.
Alice Walker: Beauty In Truth
(trailer above) is a feature documentary film which tells the
compelling story of an extraordinary woman's journey from her birth in a
paper-thin shack in cotton fields of Putnam County, Georgia to her recognition
as a key writer of the 20th Century.
Alice Walker made history as the first black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for
fiction for her groundbreaking novel, The Color Purple, which has been
transformed from a novel, to a Hollywood movie and latterly to a successful
Broadway musical. This universal story of triumph against all odds is not that
different from Walker's own story.
Hard
Times Require Furious Dancing: New Poems
Click to Order via Amazon
Paperback: 184 pages
Publisher: New World Library (September 10, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1608681882
ISBN-13: 978-1608681884
Alice Walker sums up the premise and purpose for this year of poems in her
Preface: “I was born into a family of eight siblings. I am the youngest.
Five of us have died. I share losses, health concerns, and other challenges
common to the human condition, especially in these times of war, poverty,
environmental devastation, and greed that is quite beyond the most creative
imagination. Sometimes it all feels a bit too much to bear.
I have learned
to dance.” Alice Walker is beloved for her ability to speak her own truth in
ways that speak for and about countless others. Here she confronts personal
and collective challenges in words that dance, sing, and heal. Readers of
these remarkable poems will find comfort and camaraderie — and get a
joy-filled dancing lesson.
The
Cushion in the Road: Meditation and Wandering as the Whole World Awakens to
Being in Harm's Way
In her newest collection of wide-ranging meditations on our intertwined
personal, spiritual, and political destinies, Alice Walker writes that “we
are beyond a rigid category of color, sex, or spirituality if we are truly
alive.” For the millions of her devoted fans—and for readers of Walker’s
bestselling 2006 book We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For in
particular—here is a new “gift of words” (Essence) that invites readers on a
journey of political awakening and spiritual insight.
The Cushion in the Road revisits themes the Pulitzer Prizewinning novelist,
poet, essayist, and activist has addressed throughout her career: racism,
Africa, solidarity with the Palestinian people, the presidential campaign of
Barack Obama, Cuba, healthcare, and the work of Aung San Suu Kyi. In doing
so, Walker explores her conflicting impulses to retreat into inner
contemplation and to remain deeply engaged with the world. Through the
evocative image of the meditation cushion in the road, she finds a delicate
balance between these two paths and invites her readers to do so, too.
Rich with humor, wisdom, and Walker’s unique eye for the telling details of
human experience and the natural world, The Cushion in the Road shows Walker
at the height of her literary powers, reveals the depths of her spiritual
and political understandings, and will surely be an inspiration for all.
The
World Will Follow Joy: Turning Madness into Flowers (New Poems)
Click to Order via Amazon
Hardcover: 192 pages
Publisher: New Press, The (April 2, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1595588760
ISBN-13: 978-1595588760
Product Dimensions: 4.5 x 0.9 x 7.2 inches
In this luminous collection of poems, Walker casts her eye on history,
politics, and nature, as well as world figures. In tributes to such people
as Jimmy Carter, Gloria Steinem, and the Dalai Lama, she reminds us of the
urgency of our times and of our human capacity to come together and take
action. Walker imbues her poetry with memorable images, anger, forgiveness,
and profound wisdom. Chronicling the conditions of human life today, she
demonstrates in The World Will Follow Joy her deep compassion, profound
spirituality, and necessary political commitments.
The
World Has Changed: Conversations with Alice Walker
Click to Order via Amazon
edited by Rudolph Byrd
Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: New Press, The (May 11, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 159558496X
ISBN-13: 978-1595584960
Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
Read an AALBC.com Review
The World Has Changed: Conversations with Alice Walker includes compelling
conversations between acclaimed writer Walker and other significant literary
and cultural figures, including Gloria Steinem, Howard Zinn, Pema Chodron,
Claudia Tate, Margo Jefferson, William Ferris, Paula Giddings, and Amy
Goodman. Each conversation represents a different stage in Walker's artistic
and spiritual development; taken together, they offer an unprecedented angle
of vision on her career as well as on her personal and political
development. Noted literary scholar Rudolph Byrd sets Walker's work into
context with an introductory essay, as well as with a comprehensive
annotated bibliography of her writings.
Includes Alice Walker in conversation with the following:
A
Poem Traveled Down My Arm: Poems and Drawings
Click to order via Amazon
Hardcover: 176 pages
Publisher: Random House; 1 edition (October 28, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1400061636
ISBN-13: 978-1400061631
Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
In this illuminating book, Pulitzer Prize'winning novelist and acclaimed
poet Alice Walker reveals her remarkable philosophy of life. Curiously, this
labor of love started with the author's signature: Faced with the daunting
task of providing autographs for multiple copies of one of her poetry
collections, Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth, Walker turned an
act of repetition into an act of inspiration. For each autograph became
something more than a name: a thoughtful reflection, an impromptu sketch, a
heartfelt poem. The result is this spontaneous burst of the unexpected. A
Poem Traveled Down My Arm is a lovely collection of insights and drawings'by
turns charming and humorous, provocative and profound'that represent the
wisdom of one of today's most beloved writers.
The essence of Walker's independent spirit emanates from words and images
that are simple but deep in meaning. An empowering approach to life...the
inspiration to live completely in the moment...the chance to nurture one's
creativity and peace of mind'all these beautiful elements are evoked by this
unusual and original book
Why
War Is Never a Good Idea
Click to order via Amazon
by Alice Walker (Author), Stefano Vitale (Illustrator)
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins (September 18, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060753854
From Booklist
Though War is Old
It has not
Become wise
Walker writes in this spare, eloquent poem. Naive-style paintings in neon-bright colors celebrate forest diversity and urban communities across the globe. Then each community, in turn, is destroyed by war, its glowing warmth disappearing beneath clouds of smoke and ash. On the first page, a smiling frog and a beautiful pink flower bask in a pond; on the opposite page,
Huge tires
Of a
Camouflaged
Vehicle are
About to
Squash
Them flat.
Then the destruction intensifies: something drops from the sky on a
Latino boy dreaming on a haystack. Images of eyes greedy for oil give
way to a stark picture of mothers and babies buried beneath
swirling, tactile streams of waste. The communities are always idyllic,
with no hint of poverty or struggle, but the activist
message and sometimes frightening images will compel children to talk
about what they feel and see.
--Rochman, Hazel (November 1, 2006)
We Are the Ones We Have
Been Waiting For: Inner Light in a Time of Darkness
Click to order via
Amazon
Hardcover: 128 pages
Publisher: New Press (November 30,
2006)
Language: English
ISBN: 1595581375
Book Description: A beautifully packaged book of spiritual ruminations with a progressive political edge, from the incomparable Pulitzer Prize-winner'a woman who has devoted her life to befriending the earth.
From the Introduction: "In fact, the happiness that imbues this kind of (impersonal) friendship, whether for an individual or a country, or an act, is like an inner light, a compass we might steer by as we set out across the lengthening darkness. It comes from the simple belief that what one is feeling and doing is right. That it is right to protect rather than terrorize others; right to feed people rather than withhold food (and medicine); right to want the freedom and joyful existence of all human kind. Right to want this freedom and joy for all creatures that exist already, or that might come into existence. Existence, we are now learning, is not finished! It is a happiness that comes from honoring the peace or the possibility of peace that lives within one's own heart. A deep knowing that we are the earthour separation from Earth perhaps our greatest illusion and that we stand, with gratitude and love, by our planetary Self.
Author of the perennially bestselling novel The Color Purple, Alice Walker has long been a force for sanity in a chaotic world. In We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For she draws on her deep spiritual grounding, her political conviction and experience, and her literary gifts to offer a series of meditations filled with wisdom, hope, encouragement, and, at times, serenity to a world in need of all these things. The perfect gift for Alice Walker fans and anyone who longs for peace, on earth and within, this lovely volume will be embraced for its wise insights and mature compassion.
The
Color Purple
Click to order via Amazon
ISBN: 0151191549
Format: Hardcover, 304pp
Pub. Date: May 1992
Publisher: Harcourt
"You better not never tell nobody but God."
Read a Review of Walker's The Color Purple written by Angeli Rasbury
Read an Article about the Color Purple on Broadway
The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that tells the story of two sisters through their correspondence. With a new Preface by the author.
Published to unprecedented acclaim, The Color Purple established Alice Walker as a major voice in modern fiction. Beautifully imagined and deeply compassionate, this is the story of two sisters-one a missionary in Africa and the other a child wife living in the South-who sustain their loyalty to and trust in each other across time, distance, and silence. This classic work of American literature is rich with passion, pain, inspiration, and an indomitable love of life.
You Can't Keep a
Good Woman Down:
Stories
Click to order via Amazon
ISBN: 0156997789
Format: Paperback, 180pp
Pub. Date: March 1982
Click to
order via
Amazon
ISBN: 015602862X
Format: Paperback, 180pp
Pub. Date: May 2003
Thirteen stories that probe into relations between races and between sexes. A natural evolution from the earlier, much-acclaimed collection In Love & Trouble, these fourteen provocative and often humorous stories show women oppressed but not defeated. These are hopeful stories about love, lust, fame, and cultural thievery, the delight of new lovers, and the rediscovery of old friends, affirmed even across self-imposed color lines.
There Is a Flower at the Tip of My Nose Smelling Me
Click to order via
Amazon
by Alice Walker, Stefano Vitale (Illustrator)
ISBN: 0060570806
Format: Hardcover, 32pp
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Age Range: 4 to 8
From the Publisher
There is a road
At the bottom
Of my Foot
Walking me.
In a beautifully poetic and gently provocative text, Pulitzer Prize-winning
author Alice Walker invites readers young and old to see the world -- and our
place in it -- through new eyes.
Glowing colors and radiant images accompany this joyous celebration of the
connections and interconnections between self, Nature, and creativity.
Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart
Click to order via
Amazon
ISBN: 0641714114
Format: Hardcover, 240pp
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Edition Description: Bargain
Edition Number: 1
From the Publisher
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Color Purple, Possessing the Secret of
Joy, and The Temple of My Familiar now gives us a beautiful new novel that is at
once a deeply moving personal story and a powerful spiritual journey.
In Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart, Alice Walker has created a work that
ranks among her finest achievements: the story of a woman's spiritual adventure
that becomes a passage through time, a quest for self, and a collision with
love.
Kate has always been a wanderer. A well-published author, married many times,
she has lived a life rich with explorations of the natural world and the human
soul. Now, at fifty-seven, she leaves her lover, Yolo, to embark on a new
excursion, one that begins on the Colorado River, proceeds through the past, and
flows, inexorably, into the future. As Yolo begins his own parallel voyage, Kate
encounters celibates and lovers, shamans and snakes, memories of family disaster
and marital discord, and emerges at a place where nothing remains but love.
Told with the accessible style and deep feeling that are its author's hallmarks,
Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart is Alice Walker's most surprising
achievement.
Temple of My Familiar
Click to order via
Amazon
ISBN: 0671683993
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 417pp
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
Filled with the author's unique combination of magic and reality, this book is a
sweeping yet intimate novel about people who are tormented by the world's
contradictions--black vs. white, man vs. woman, sexual freedom vs. sexual
slavery, and past vs. present.
"The richness of Alice Walker's new novel is amazing, overwhelming. A
hundred themes and subjects spin through it, dozens of characters, a whirl of
time and places. Men are touched superficially: all the people are passionate
actors and sufferers, and everything they talk about is urgent, a matter truly
of life and death. They're like Dostoyevsky's characters, relentlessly raising
the great moral questions and pushing one another toward self-knowledge,
honesty, inducement."
'Ursula K. Le Guin, The San Francisco Review of Books
Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth: New Poems
Click to order via Amazon
ISBN: 0375509046
Format: Hardcover, 240pp
Pub. Date: March 2003
Publisher: Random House, Incorporated
Edition Description: 1ST
The Pulitzer Prize'winning author of The Color Purple gives us her first new
collection of poetry in more than a decade, poems that reaffirm her as 'one of
the best American writers of today' (The Washington Post).
The forces of nature and the strength of the human spirit inspire the poems in
Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth. Alice Walker opens us up to feeling
and understanding with poems that cover a broad spectrum of emotions. With
profound artistry, Walker searches for, discovers, and declares the fundamental
beauty of existence, as she explores what it means to live life fully, to learn
from it, and to grow both as an individual and as part of a greater spiritual
community.
In 'The Same as Gold,' Walker writes of the essence of grief, and of our
inherent powers of love and acceptance. In 'Everyone Who Works for Me,' Walker
considers, with humor and grace, the frenzy that permeates modern life'a frenzy
that prevents us from seeing the beauty in everything we do until we step back
and take the time to look at and comprehend ourselves and those around us. In
'The Love of Bodies,' Walker elegantly expresses the gratitude and tenderness we
are capable of feeling for loved ones, living and dead, and the inescapable
emotional connections that bind us together.
About Walker's poetry, America has said, 'In the tradition of Whitman, Walker
sings, celebrates and agonizes over the ordinary vicissitudes that link and
separate all of humankind,' and the same could be said about this astonishing
new collection.
Despite
the hunger
wecannot
possess
more
than
this:
Peace
in a garden
of
our own.
'from Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth
The Third
Life of Grange Copeland
Click to order via Amazon
ISBN: 0156028360
Format: Paperback, 328pp
Pub. Date: March 2003
Publisher: Harvest Books
Despondent over the futility of life in the South, black tenant farmer Grange Copeland leaves his wife and son in Georgia to head North. After meeting an equally humiliating existence there, he returns to Georgia, years later, to find his son, Brownfield, imprisoned for the murder of his wife. As the guardian of the couple's youngest daughter, Grange Copeland is looking at his third ' and final ' chance to free himself from spiritual and social enslavement.
Age Ain't Nothing but a Number: Black Women Explore
Midlife
Click to order via Amazon
Carleen Brice Editor & Contributor
ISBN: 0807028231
Number Of Pages: 252
Publication Date: May 15, 2003
Publisher: Beacon Press
"Age Ain't Nothing but a Number is my roadmap." --Iyanla Vanzant
Forty-five black women writers "known and new" discuss midlife in the first anthology of its kind.
Finally, a collection that celebrates, considers, contemplates, even criticizes "midlife" from a black woman's point of view. Age Ain't Nothing but a Number ranges over every aspect of black women's lives: personal growth, family and friendship, love and sexuality, health, beauty, illness, spirituality, creativity, financial independence, work, and scores of other topics.
Midlife today isn't your grandmother's "change of life." Today, black women call hot flashes "power surges," and menopause, the "pause that refreshes." These days, middle-aged women may be newlyweds or new mothers, as well as grandmothers or widows. They may experience the empty-nest syndrome and then the "return-to-the-nest syndrome" as adult children move back home. They may navigate the field of Internet dating, travel the world, teach homeless women, take up pottery, or study international business.
This anthology captures all of these aspects of midlife as experienced by some of the finest voices in African-American writing today. Featuring the work of Maya Angelou, J. California Cooper, Pearl Cleage, Nikki Giovanni, Susan L. Taylor, Alice Walker, and dozens of others, Age Ain't Nothing but a Number will make readers think, laugh, and cry and will be the perfect gift book for spring.
Related Links
Alice Walker's Garden - The Offical Website
Read the rest of the bio at:
(an excellent Alice walker webpage)
