Alice Walker
Alice Walker
Alice Malsenior Walkeris an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and activist. She wrote the critically acclaimed novel The Color Purplefor which she won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. She also wrote Meridian and The Third Life of Grange Copeland, among other works...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth9 February 1944
CityEatonton, GA
CountryUnited States of America
mother moving grandparent
Our mothers and grandmothers ... moving to music not yet written.
moving eye world
To know is to exist; to exist is to be involved, to move about, to see the world with my own eyes.
struggle moving thinking
To grow, to become spiritually alive, and vibrant, you really have to struggle. Without struggle, you do not move at all...I would appreciate it if readers who come to my work would try very, very, very hard not to think narrowly as we are taught to think in America.
saying-goodbye letting-you-go letting-go-and-moving-on
Even as I hold you, I am letting you go.
block moving ideas
You are saying, are you not, I said to Manuelito, that stories have more room in them than ideas? [...] He laughed. That is correct, Señor. It is as if ideas are made of blocks. Rigid and hard. And stories are made of a gauze that is elastic. You can almost see through it, so what is beyond is tantalizing. You can't quite make it out; and because the imagination is always moving forward, you yourself are constantly stretching. Stories are the way spirit is exercised.
moving
Time moves slowly, but passes quickly.
across armies battered doors fields fists generals generation hands led shirts step trapped voice white women
They were women then My mama's generation Husky of voice Stout of step With fists as well as Hands How they battered down Doors And ironed Starched white Shirts How they led Armies Headragged Generals Across mined Fields Booby trapped
activism living rent
Activism is my rent for living on this planet.
father feels frame grew middle mind night obeying south taken terrorism white
I grew up in the South under segregation. So, I know what terrorism feels like - when your father could be taken out in the middle of the night and lynched just because he didn't look like he was in an obeying frame of mind when a white person said something he must do. I mean, that's terrorism, too.
children worry age
I know from having had a child, and from having been a child myself, that children will copy you. So, the best way to get them to read, is to read. The best way to get them to do anything is to do it yourself, and they will absolutely copy you. That way, you don't have to worry about what's supposedly age appropriate, a child will pick something up when the child is ready.
heart giving people
I feel that all you can do is give it your absolute best with whatever gifts the universe has given you. And if you make it in some way that other people can recognize, that's fine. But even if you don't quote-unquote make it, you're fine, if you've given it your whole heart and soul. You're totally in sync with your purpose and with the universe. And that's fine.
thinking people goes-on
You don't really stay attached to things. Life goes on, so you don't really sit around and think about how they are relevant to other people. You hope that whatever you create will be relevant.
running encouragement thinking
If you don't have the ability or encouragement to use yourself in a physical way, you could become just another talking head. And talking heads run things. That's part of the reason why we're in such a sad state as a planet, because it's all about thinking, and thinking has led to a lot of aggrandizement - taking over [resources] and figuring out how you can steal and leaving people and the planet in an impoverished state.
jobs taken men
In a way, no matter who's in charge of the corporation that the United States is, the direction in which it is taken seems to be inexorable. So, you just get the job of being the front man for four or eight years. Now, most people realize that's what you are.