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Alice Walker: Resources
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by Erik Bledsoe
East Tennessee State University
Johnson City, Tennessee
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More About Alice Walker...
E-Texts
Web Sites
Films
Audio Recordings
Electronic Discussion Group
E-Texts
Letter to President Clinton
As a contemporary writer, all of Alice Walker's works are still protected under United States and international copyright law. Hence, there are no public domain e-texts of her work available. However, many sites feature excerpts from her prose and occasionally entire poems, though the legality of their presence is suspect. Of some interest is an open letter written to President Clinton, where Walker criticizes United States policy toward Cuba.
 Letter to President Clinton
Web Sites
Lit Chat with Alice Walker
An interview with Walker from the online magazine Salon.com.
Lit Chat with Alice Walker
Living by Grace: Alice Walker
Fan-created site. A bit too much fawning but contains good biographical and bibliographical information. Does not seem to be updated.
Living by Grace: Alice Walker
Anniina's Alice Walker Page
Probably the best Alice Walker site on the Internet. Extensive link section provides easy access to a variety of online Walker resources, including interviews, newspaper stories, excerpts from her works, and several student-written essays.
Anniina's Alice Walker Page
Writing and Resistance: Alice Walker
Walker portion of a broader site devoted to African-American writers. Contains an extensive critical bibliography. Has not been updated for a couple of years.
Writing and Resistance: Alice Walker
Alice Walker: Audio Interviews
Provides links to audio clips of interviews with Walker conducted by BBC Radio in 1985 and in 1998.
Alice Walker: Audio Interviews
An Interview with Alice Walker
A 2002 interview with Walker, one of many she gave during this time to promote the release of The Color Purple on DVD. Contains brief mention of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.
An Interview with Alice Walker
The Africana QA: Alice Walker
A 2003 interview with Walker. Focuses mostly on the film adaptation of The Color Purple and the recent release of the film on DVD.
The Africana QA: Alice Walker
Featured Author: Alice Walker
A collection of links to stories by and about Walker that appeared in the New York Times from 1973 to 1998. Also contains audio (75 minutes) of a public reading Walker gave at the 92nd Street Y in New York in 1998.
Featured Author: Alice Walker
New Found Growth: A Web Site on The Color Purple
A site put together by a British college student and aimed at junior high to high school audiences. Provides some historical context for the novel.
New Found Growth: A Web Site on The Color Purple
Films
In Black and White: Conversations with African-American Writers, Volume 4. Directed by Matteo Bellinelli. California Newsreel, 1992. (30 minutes)
Part of a series of films on African-American writers, this documentary includes extensive comments from Walker.
Visions of the Spirit: A Portrait of Alice Walker. Directed by Elena Featherston. 1989.
A documentary portrait of Walker containing interviews with the author over a period of several years. Also has interviews with Stephen Spielberg and other crew and cast members from the set while filming The Color Purple. Contains footage of Walker's hometown of Eatonville, Georgia, and some of her family. An informative piece, but perhaps a bit slow-paced for showing to a class.
The Color Purple. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Warner Home Video, 1987.
Hollywood adaptation of Walker's novel, starring Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover. Can be used fruitfully in class to raise issues about the differences between the film and the novel and why Hollywood felt the need to make those changes when bringing Walker's work to a larger audience.
Fidel. Directed by Estella Bravo. 2001.
A documentary about Fidel Castro produced in Cuba with some commentary by Walker.
Tell About the South: Voices in Black and White. 1998, 1999, 2000.
A series of three feature-length documentaries about southern writers. Walker offers commentary on Zora Neale Hurston in the first film and is herself profiled in the third film.
Audio Recordings
Interview with Alice Walker by Kay Bonetti. American Audio Prose Library, 1981. (46 minutes)
Interview with Walker on the eve of publication of You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down. The conversation begins rather stiffly, but becomes more personal during the course of the interview. Interesting to note that Walker declines to talk about her novel in progress, presumably The Color Purple. Contains a discussion of Walker's often-taught story "Nineteen Fifty-five," which she reads for a separate tape (see below).
Interview with Alice Walker by Kay Bonetti
Alice Walker Reads "Nineteen Fifty-five." American Audio Prose Library, 1981. (36 minutes)
Walker reads her story.
Alice Walker Reads "Nineteen Fifty-five."
Pema Chodron and Alice Walker: In Conversation on the Meaning of Suffering and the Mystery of Joy. Sounds True, 2000.
A recording of Walker and Chodron from a live presentation in San Francisco where the two discuss the meditation practice of tonglen.
Electronic Discussion Group
There are no electronic discussion groups devoted exclusively to Walker. However, discussions of Walker often occur on AMLIT-L, the American Literature Discussion. To subscribe, send a generic subscription message ("SUBSCRIBE AMLIT-L Your Name") to LISTSERV@MIZZOU1.MISSOURI.EDU.
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