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Alice Walker
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English Literature Author: Alice Walker
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Alice Walker
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Through her novels, essays, poetry, and activism, Alice Walker has become one of the most prominent black women writers of the second half of the twentieth century.Although her first published book was a collection of poetry (Once, 1968) and she has since published several other poetry collections, she is best known for her fiction and essays.Her first three novels all are set in the South where she was born and among other issues explore the sometimes problematic relationship between African-Americans and the region.More recently the scope of her fiction has expanded, exploring in particular the spiritual connections between Africa and its people throughout the world.All of her work evidences her concerns with justice and the lives of women and spirituality.In recent years, her work has evidenced a growing concern with environmental issues.She has commented that in her work she seeks a unity of moral, social, and aesthetic purpose.
A lifelong activist, Walker worked in voter registration in the South in the 1960s and continues to promote a variety of women's issues.In particular, in the 1980s and 1990s she worked to promote awareness of the continued practice of female genital mutilation.Often finding herself alienated from traditional feminists because of their failure to consider the implications of race, Walker coined the term womanist to describe black feminists.For many years, Walker has worked to promote the works of other black women writers.In particular, she should be given much of the credit for the rediscovery of Zora Neale Hurston, having edited an anthology when most of Hurston's works were out of print.She even placed a tombstone on the author's unmarked grave.
Walker came to mass popular attention with the publication of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple in 1982, which was made into a hit movie by Stephen Spielberg in 1985.
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Walker has used her visibility to promote a variety of social and political causes, ranging from efforts to focus world attention upon the practice of female circumcision to calling for an end to the United States embargo against Cuba.In the spring of 2003 she was arrested at an antiwar protest outside the White House, where she and others had gathered to state opposition to the impending war on Iraq.In recent years, writing has become a secondary concern for Walker.Writing in the preface to her 2003 collection of poetry, Walker says she was surprised by the emergence of the poems (following the terrorist attacks of September 11) because she had been telling friends for several years that she did not think she would write again, preferring instead to think of herself as "a wandering inspiration," using her fame to inspire others to work toward a better future and present.
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Walker is blinded in her right eye after being shot by her brother with a BB gun while they were playing cowboys and Indians.
1961Graduates high school as valedictorian and prom queen; enters Spelman College in Atlanta on a scholarship.
1962Because of her work in civil rights demonstrations, Walker is invited to attend the Youth World Peace Festival in Helsinki, Finland.
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Publishes Sent by Earth: A Message from the Grandmother Spirit After the Bombing of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a short work (50 pages) that is an expanded version of a speech Walker gave shortly after the terrorist attacks of 2001.
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More About Alice Walker ...
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Alice Walker: Suggested Reading
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Alice Walker: Resources
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