The Color Purple (Paperback)

Walker's writings include novels, stories, essays and poems

Topically, they focus on the struggles of African Americans, particularly women, and they witness against oppressive societies that are racist, sexist, and violent. Her writings also focus on the role of black women in culture and history. Walker is a respected figure in the liberal political community for her support of unconventional and unpopular views as a matter of principle. She is openly bisexual, and sympathetic of people of all sexualities, ethnicities, and races.

In 1982, Walker would publish what has become her best-known work, the novel The Color Purple. The story of a young black woman fighting her way through not only racist white culture, but patriarchal black culture was a resounding commercial success, and the immediacy of the characters and the story struck a nerve in readers, regardless of race, age, or gender. The book became a best seller, and was subsequently made into a 1985 movie as well as a 2005 Broadway musical play.

Book and writing awards

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 1983 (The Color Purple); National Book Award for Fiction 1983 (The Color Purple)

Similar authors to Alice Walker

Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison.