Looking Deeply with Alice Walker

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This is a thought-provoking interview with a frank and powerful thinker and writer. Alice Walker reminds us of the importance of invisible forces and connections between worlds that science has not yet acknowledged. She tells how her own life is informed by a host of "ancestors" and characters from her own writing, and how this provides her with strength and a broad perspective on world history and current situations. She speaks of the need to free ourselves from oppression of all kinds, and stresses in particular how common female circumcision still is. Circumcision represents a repression of our sexual duality, she says, and reminds us of our need to enjoy and celebrate the full humanity within us, both male and female. Alice Walker won the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award for her novel The Color Purple, which was made into a movie by Steven Spielberg. (hosted by Justine and Michael Toms)

Bio

Alice Walker is the eighth child of Georgia sharecroppers. After a childhood accident blinded her in one eye, she went on to become valedictorian of her local school, and attend Spelman College and Sarah Lawrence College on scholarships, graduating in 1965. She is  the author of three collections of short stories, three collections of essays, five volumes of poetry, and several children's books. Her works are heartful reminders of the strengths of family, community, self-worth, nature, and spirituality.

Her  novels include:

• The Color Purple (Mariner Books 2003)
• The Temple of My Familiar (Mariner Books; Reprint edition 2010)
• By the Light of My Father's Smile (Random House; 1st edition 1998)
• Possessing the Secret of Joy (The New Press; New Edition edition 2008)
• Now Is the Time To Open Your Heart  (Ballantine Books; Reprint edition 2005)

Host: Justine & Michael Toms         Interview Date: 4/27/1992         Program Number: 2336