Most Popular Books by Alice Walker

Poems from the author of The Color Purple: "This book has two fine strengths—a music that comes along sometimes [and] Walker's own tragicomic gifts" ( The New York Times Book Review). The title of this collection comes from a Native American shaman who, reflecting on the terrible problems brought by white colonizers, nearly forgave them all because with the settlers came horses to the North American Plains. And, indeed, in these poems we find Alice Walker seeking a saving grace even in the most difficult circumstances, and in the hearts of the most brutal oppressors. Here Walker's attention turns toward the small moments and subliminal exchanges between lovers and enemies, even as her verse addresses concerns as vast as the choking of the planet by war and pollution. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alice Walker including rare photos from the author's personal collection.

In her bestselling novel Possessing the Secret of Joy, Walker opened the door to a long-hidden secret by bringing female genital multilation to prominence. This book--based on Parmer's extraordinary film--chronicles the authors' journey together, from California to England to Africa, to interview the people concerned with and affected by this harmful, sometimes deadly process. 40 photos.

The highly acclaimed first two novels by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Color Purple and "a lavishly gifted writer" ( The New York Times Book Review). The first African American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1983 for The Color Purple—which also won the National Book Award and was adapted into both an award–winning film starring Whoopi Goldberg and a Tony Award–winning Broadway musical— New York Times–bestselling author Alice Walker is without question "one of [our] best American writers" ( The Washington Post). Before her success with The Color Purple, Walked penned the two powerful and unforgettable novels collected here. Meridian: This "classic novel of both feminism and the Civil Rights movement" is the story of Meridian Hill, who, as she approaches the end of her teen years, has already married, divorced, and given birth to a son ( Ms. Magazine). She's looking for a second chance, and at a small college outside Atlanta, Georgia, in the early 1960s, she becomes involved in the Civil Rights movement. So fully does the cause guide her life that she's willing to sacrifice virtually anything to help transform the conditions of a people whose subjugation she shares. "Beautifully presented and utterly convincing." — The New Yorker "A fine, taut novel . . . Remarkable." — The New York Times Book Review The Third Life of Grange Copeland: In Walker's debut novel, Grange Copeland, a deeply conflicted and struggling tenant farmer in the Deep South of the 1930s, leaves his family and everything he's ever known to find happiness and respect in the cold cities of the North. This misadventure, his "second life," proves a dismal failure that sends him back where he came from to confront his now-grown-up son's disastrous relationships with his own family, including Grange's granddaughter, Ruth Copeland, a child Grange grows to love. Love becomes the substance of his third and final life. He spends it in devotion to Ruth, teaching and protecting her—though the cost of doing so is almost more than he can bear. "[A] splendid novel." — Chicago Tribune "A solid, honest sensitive tale . . . leavened by those moments of humor and warmth that have enabled men and women to endure so much tragedy." — Chicago Daily News

In 2006, Alice Walker, working with Women for Women International, visited Rwanda and the eastern Congo to witness the aftermath of the genocide in Kigali. Invited by Code Pink, an antiwar group working to end the Iraq War, Walker traveled to Palestine/Israel three years later to view the devastation on the Gaza Strip. Here is her testimony. Bearing witness to the depravity and cruelty, she presents the stories of the individuals who crossed her path and shared their tales of suffering and courage. Part of what has happened to human beings over the last century, she believes, is that we have been rendered speechless by unusually barbaric behavior that devalues human life. We have no words to describe what we witness. Self-imposed silence has slowed our response to the plight of those who most need us, often women and children, but also men of conscience who resist evil but are outnumbered by those around them who have fallen victim to a belief in weapons, male or ethnic dominance, and greed.

A memoir about keeping chickens from the author of THE COLOR PURPLE When Alice Walker grew up in the deep south of America, her family always kept chickens - for meat and for eggs - and her job was to chase down the Sunday dinner! In later life, when she settled in Mexico and was growing her own food, she realised how much she missed keeping them and decided to get a brood of her own. So into her life came Gertrude Stein, Babe, Babe 2, Hortensia, Splendor, Glorious, Rufus and Agnes of God, not to mention a few others. She discovered a deep contentment in keeping chickens, looking after them and watching them develop. This also made her think about her own life and brought back severed memories of her childhood. This book isn't a 'how to' on keeping chickens, it is a warm memoir chronicling her journey and the way in which keeping chickens led her to a fuller understanding of herself.

'Alice Walker in this, the most beautiful, the most compassionate, the most sensuous of novels, has created a masterpiece. It is one of the most life-enhancing novels you could hope to read. Flawless' Mary Louden, THE TIMES 'All your life you have the necessary illusion that you know all there is to know about heartbreak. I hate to the one to tell you about the heartbreak you will experience after you die . . .' A family goes to the remote sierras of Mexico - the writer-to--be Susannah; her sister Magdalena; their father and mother. There, amid indigenous people called the Mundo, they begin an encounter that will change them more than they ever could have dreamed. This is a deeply sensual novel that explores the richness of female sexuality as a celebration of life, affirming the belief 'that it is the triumphant heart, not the conquered heart, that forgives. And that love is both timeless and beyond'.

Literature Guides Created by Harvard students for students everywhere, SparkNotes is a new breed of study guide: smarter, better, faster. Geared to what today's students need to know, SparkNotes provide: Chapter-by-chapter analysis Explanations of key themes, motifs, and symbols A review quiz and essay topics Lively and accessible, these guides are perfect for late-night studying and writing papers.

' I am the woman offering two flowers whose roots are twin. Justice and Hope Hope and Justice Let us begin' Alice Walker has been writing poetry since the summer of 1965, when she travelled to East Africa and began the collection ONCE while sitting beneath a tree facing Mount Kenya. Encompassing the collections ONCE, REVOLUTIONARY PETUNIAS & OTHER POEMS, GOOD NIGHT WILLIE LEE I'LL SEE YOU IN THE MORNING, and HORSES MAKE A LANDSCAPE LOOK MORE BEAUTIFUL as well as other poems, this is a wonderful, surprising, entertaining collection that offers a historical perspective on the evolution of both the poetry itself and the political and spiritual inspiration behind it.

________________ 'This anthology will help turn your intellectual understanding of oppression into an emotional one' - New Statesman 'Thanks for being who you are and for giving us such exposure to wonderful people. Palestine is proud of you' - Suad Amiry ________________ The Palestine Festival of Literature was established in 2008. Bringing together writers from all corners of the globe, it aims to help Palestinians break the cultural siege imposed by the Israeli military occupation, to strengthen their artistic links with the rest of the world, and to reaffirm, in the words of Edward Said, 'the power of culture over the culture of power'. Celebrating the tenth anniversary of PalFest, This Is Not a Border is a collection of essays, poems and stories from some of the world's most distinguished artists, responding to their experiences at this unique festival. Both heartbreaking and hopeful, their gathered work is a testament to the power of literature to promote solidarity and courage in the most desperate of situations. Contributors: Susan Abulhawa, Suad Amiry, Victoria Brittain, Jehan Bseiso, Teju Cole, Molly Crabapple, Selma Dabbagh, Mahmoud Darwish, Najwan Darwish, Geoff Dyer, Yasmin El-Rifae, Adam Foulds, Ru Freeman, Omar Robert Hamilton, Suheir Hammad, Nathalie Handal, Mohammed Hanif, Jeremy Harding, Rachel Holmes, John Horner, Remi Kanazi, Brigid Keenan, Mercedes Kemp, Omar El-Khairy, Nancy Kricorian, Sabrina Mahfouz, Jamal Mahjoub, Henning Mankell, Claire Messud, China Miéville, Pankaj Mishra, Deborah Moggach, Muiz, Maath Musleh, Michael Palin, Ed Pavlic, Atef Abu Saif, Kamila Shamsie, Raja Shehadeh, Gillian Slovo, Ahdaf Soueif, Linda Spalding, Will Sutcliffe, Alice Walker With messages from China Achebe, Michael Ondaatje and J. M. Coetzee ________________ 'Every literary act, whether it is a great epic poem or an honest piece of journalism or a simple nonsense tale for children is a blow against the forces of stupidity and ignorance and darkness ... The Palestine Festival of Literature exists to do just that – and I salute it for its work. Not only this year but for as long as it is necessary' - Philip Pullman

The time has come, Lillian Smith wrote in 1962, for women to risk the "great and daring creative act" of discovering and articulating their own identity. Three years later, Southern women of a younger generation, fortified by the skills and self-respect earned in the black civil-rights movement, issued the first manifesto of a new feminism. Their words landed with explosive force, setting off cultural reverberations which have shaken the lives of men and women alike. A little more than a decade after that, this issue of Southern Exposure began to take form. Its creation has taken us back into history and deep into the meaning of our own lives. As we set out to understand the situation of Southern women, we found ourselves "in search of our mothers' gardens." We found ourselves naming an experience we share across the generations. "So many of the stories that I write," Alice Walker discovered, "are my mother's stories." To speak in our own voices, we had first to give expression to a "promise song" that has been there all along.

Scoring a 5 on the AP Test Has Just Become Easier You no longer have to choose between "teaching the work" or "teaching to the test." Prestwick House Advanced Placement Teaching Units allow you to do both. Because we wanted the Prestwick House AP Teaching Units to meet the rigorous demands of the Advanced Placement class, we wrote detailed study guides that focus on the types of literary knowledge your students will have to demonstrate on their AP exams.

Scoring a 5 on the AP Test Has Just Become Easier You no longer have to choose between "teaching the work" or "teaching to the test." Prestwick House Advanced Placement Teaching Units allow you to do both. Because we wanted the Prestwick House AP Teaching Units to meet the rigorous demands of the Advanced Placement class, we wrote detailed study guides that focus on the types of literary knowledge your students will have to demonstrate on their AP exams.

For many years, Alice Walker has been known for her outspoken positions against racism, sexism, and colonialism. Now, she takes her crusade into the midst of her fiction, as her protagonist (greatly resembling herself) sheds the burdens and blessings of her past to come to terms with an actuality heightened by the transcendental images of magical realism. To be purified, she must go down two rivers. First, there's the Colorado, where she takes an all-female white-water rafting trip which makes her decide to pursue celibacy. Then, there's the Amazon, where she purges her past using yage, a hallucinogenic herb which brings her closer to the World-Grandmother-Spirit. At last, she reaches a place of love and wholeness.

A novelistic sense of the drama of ordinary life distinguishes this collection of poems, a chronicle of one person's struggle to demystify love and to be truly responsible in the world