Walker, Alice

Walker, Alice

▪ American writer
in full  Alice Malsenior Walker 
born Feb. 9, 1944, Eatonton, Ga., U.S.
 
 American writer whose novels, short stories, and poems are noted for their insightful treatment of African American culture. Her novels, most notably The Color Purple (1982), focus particularly on women.

      Walker was the eighth child of African American sharecroppers. While growing up she was accidentally blinded in one eye, and her mother gave her a typewriter, allowing her to write instead of doing chores. She received a scholarship to attend Spelman College, where she studied for two years before transferring to Sarah Lawrence College. After graduating in 1965, Walker moved to Mississippi and became involved in the civil rights movement. She also began teaching and publishing short stories and essays. She married in 1967, but the couple divorced in 1976.

      Walker's first book of poetry, Once, appeared in 1968, and her first novel, The Third Life of Grange Copeland (1970), a narrative that spans 60 years and three generations, followed two years later. A second volume of poetry, Revolutionary Petunias and Other Poems, and her first collection of short stories, In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Woman, both appeared in 1973. The latter bears witness to sexist violence and abuse in the African American community. After moving to New York, Walker completed Meridian (1976), a novel describing the coming of age of several civil rights workers in the 1960s.

      Walker later moved to California, where she wrote perhaps her most popular novel, The Color Purple (1982). Written in epistolary form, the novel depicts the growing up and self-realization of an African American woman between 1909 and 1947 in a town in Georgia. The book won a Pulitzer Prize and was adapted into a film by Steven Spielberg (Spielberg, Steven) in 1985. Walker also cofounded Wild Tree Press (1984–88). Her later works include In Search of Our Mother's Gardens: Womanist Prose (1983), The Temple of My Familiar (1989), Possessing the Secret of Joy (1992), and By the Light of My Father's Smile (1998). Walker also wrote juvenile fiction and critical essays on such women writers as Flannery O'Connor (O'Connor, Flannery) and Zora Neale Hurston (Hurston, Zora Neale).

Additional Reading
Donna Haisty Winchell, Alice Walker (1992); Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and K.A. Appiah (eds.), Alice Walker: Critical Perspectives Past and Present (1993).

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Walker,Alice — Wal·ker (wôʹkər), Alice. Born 1944. American writer whose works include the novels Meridian (1976) and The Color Purple (1982), for which she won a Pulitzer Prize. * * * …   Universalium

  • Walker, Alice (Malsenior) — born Feb. 9, 1944, Eatonton, Ga., U.S. U.S. writer. After attending Spelman College and Sarah Lawrence College, Walker moved to Mississippi and became involved with the civil rights movement. She also began teaching and publishing short stories… …   Universalium

  • Walker, Alice (Malsenior) — (n. 9 feb. 1944, Eatonton, Ga., EE.UU.). Escritora norteamericana. Después de cursar estudios en Spelman College y Sarah Lawrence College, Walker se trasladó a Mississippi donde se involucró en el movimiento por los derechos humanos. Comenzó… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Walker, Alice Malsenior —    см. Уокер, Элис …   Писатели США. Краткие творческие биографии

  • Alice Walker — Alice Walker. Alice Malsenior Walker (nacida el 9 de febrero de 1944) es una escritora afroamericana y feminista que recibió el Premio Pulitzer a la obra de ficción en 1983 por la novela El color púrpura, en la que se basó la película del mismo… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Alice Malsenior Walker — Alice Walker Pour les articles homonymes, voir Walker. Alice Walker. Alice Malsenior Walker (née le 9 février 1944), est une écriv …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Walker — Walker, Francis Amasa Walker, William * * * (as used in expressions) Bush, George (Herbert Walker) Bush, George W(alker) Evans, Walker Percy, Walker Walker Smith, Jr. Walker, Alice (Malsenior) Walker, Copa Walker, David Walker, James J(ohn) Jimmy …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Alice Walker — Infobox Writer name = Alice Walker caption = Alice Walker birthdate = birth date and age|1944|02|09 birthplace = Eatonton, Georgia, United States deathdate = deathplace = occupation = novelist, short story writer, poet genre = African American… …   Wikipedia

  • Alice Walker — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Walker. Alice Walker. Alice Malsenior Walker (née le 9 février 1944), est une écrivaine et une militante féministe américaine …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Walker — /waw keuhr/, n. 1. Alice, born 1944, U.S. novelist and short story writer. 2. David, 1785 1830, U.S. abolitionist. 3. James John (Jimmy), 1881 1946, U.S. politician: mayor of New York City 1926 32. 4. John, born 1952, New Zealand track and field… …   Universalium

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