Alice Walker, the Dalai Lama and Oprah
The Associated Press reported yesterday that Alice Walker, who won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for her novel The Color Purple, has chosen the library at Emory University in Atlanta to place her archive.
One of the reasons Walker, a native Georgian, chose Emory is that she visits the university every couple of years for readings and meetings with faculty members. She also said that Emory's relationship with the Dalai Lama, who joined the Emory faculty this year as a presidential distinguished professor, played a part in her decision.
"I can imagine in years to come that my papers and memorabilia, my journals and letters, will find themselves always in the company of people who care about many of the things I do: culture, community, spirituality, scholarship and the blessings of ancestors who want each of us to find joy and happiness in this life, by doing the very best we can to be worthy of it," Walker said in a statement...
Walker's archive includes not only college papers and early drafts of her work, but also her journals and letters, which include correspondence from the woman who brought The Color Purple to Broadway, Oprah Winfrey, among others.
Walker's latest book, published earlier this year, is Why War is Never a Good Idea (HarperCollins, 32 pages, $16.99, ages 5-8), a children's book, illustrated by Stefano Vitale.
Booklist says: "The activist message and sometimes frightening images will compel children to talk about what they feel and see."
Kirkus says: "Walker's language is perfectly plainspoken without being coarse, laid over Vitale's jewel-like color and riot of images from the sublime (a village by a lake) to the scary (a poisonous green fog covering a bright forest). ... Children deserve to see this, and adults need to be ready to discuss it with them."
