Alice Walker

Alice Malsenior Tallulah-Kate Walker was born on 9 February 1944, in Putnam County, just outside of Eatonton, Georgia, as the youngest of eight children to her parents Willie Lee and Minnie Tallulah. Walker boasts a long and distinguished career, as an internationally recognized novelist, poet, essayist, and activist. She was awarded the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for The Color Purple, the first African American woman to be so honored. The novel also won the National Book Award. Walker is well-known for her stunning autobiographical essay collection, In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens, which included some of her work originally published in Ms. magazine. In this volume, she, with African women writers, coined and extended the use of the concept “Womanist,” which is used across disciplines. She also revived the work of Zora Neale Hurston. In addition, she is one of the first African American Buddhists to publish work in that religion. She began to practice yoga and meditation, her journals indicate, around 1979 and openly to practice Buddhism in her fifties, though she had studied it for many years. Walker has published seventeen novels and short story collections, twelve non-fiction works, including collections of essays and poetry, and several children’s books. Her life has been documented by Pratibha Parmar in the documentary Beauty in Truth (2013). Walker’s activist work has been controversial, particularly for her criticism of female circumcision in Warrior Marks: Female Genital Mutilation and the Sexual Binding of Women (1993), co-authored with Pratibha Parmar, who also filmed a documentary on the issue. Also, some criticize her support of the cause of the Palestinians. Nevertheless, her work is loved, not just by academics, but by many loyal readers. She has influence both in and beyond the academy and is respected in literary, feminist, activist, and many other circles. Alice Walker’s influence cannot be summed up: her work is immense, as is her spirit.