The World Has Changed: Conversations with Alice Walker »

In her highly praised fiction and her wide-ranging nonfiction, Pulitzer-winning author Alice Walker often concerns herself with various types of violence toward women. Her stories are often painful to read, but she uncovers insights about race, gender and human resilience along the way.

The World Has Changed: Conversations with Alice Walker includes compelling conversations between acclaimed writer Walker and other significant literary and cultural figures, including Gloria Steinem, Howard Zinn, Pema Chodron, Claudia Tate, Margo Jefferson, William Ferris, Paula Giddings, and Amy Goodman. Each conversation represents a different stage in Walker’s artistic and spiritual development; taken together, they offer an unprecedented angle of vision on her career as well as on her personal and political development. Noted literary scholar Rudolph Byrd sets Walker’s work into context with an introductory essay, as well as with a comprehensive annotated bibliography of her writings.

Includes Alice Walker in conversation with the following:
John O’Brien (1973) on her early writing career and inspirations
Claudia Tate (1983) on being part of the emerging coterie of black women writers in the 1970s
Ellen Bring (1988) on her animal rights activism and its importance to her world view and writing
Claudia Dreifus(1989) on politics and fiction writing
Paula Giddings (1992) in Essence
Jody Hoy (1994) on her personal philosophy
Tammy Simon from Sounds True Recordings (1995)
Evelyn White from Ms. (1998)
Pema Chodron (1998) on the importance of Buddhisim to her work and writing
William R. Ferris (2004) on being a black female writer from the South
Margo Jefferson A Conversation from LIVE FROM THE NYPL (2005) on her success with The Color Purple and being a celebrity
Amy Goodman (March 2006) on her politics and activism
George Galloway (November 2006) on why she supports Castro
Marrianne Schnall from feminist.com (December 2006)
Howard Zinn on her Mississippi years, experiences with Zinn as a student, role of the civil rights movement in her work.

Library Journal

Walker's social activism emerges as a major current in her life and writings as she discusses her roots, worldview, and artistic development in these penetrating and revealing interviews. As the youngest child among eight, Walker grew up in rural Georgia, picking cotton with her family. From these modest beginnings, she has emerged as one of America's best-known writers, partly owing to the success of her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple, adapted for film by Steven Spielberg in 1985, and recently a Broadway musical. These discussions with such commentators as Howard Zinn, Amy Goodman, and Margo Jefferson highlight Walker's activism, which includes civil rights in this country, fighting female genital mutilation in Africa, resisting tyranny worldwide, and being a force for world peace. In one notable conversation, Walker and Buddhist writer Pema Chodron discuss working with negative energy and alleviating suffering in the world. VERDICT An important addition to the Walker canon, this book will interest not only her fans but serious readers generally.—Nancy R. Ives, SUNY at Geneseo

Alice Walker: Interview with John O’Brien from Interviews With Black Writers (1973) [on her early writing career and inspirations]

Alice Walker: Interview with Claudia Tate from Black Women Writers At Work (1983) [on being part of the emerging coterie of black women writers in the 1970s – with Toni Morrison, Gloria Naylor, etc.]

Alice Walker: “Moving Towards Coexistence,” Interview with Ellen Bring from The Animal’s Agenda (1988) [on her animal rights activism and its importance to her world view and writing]

Alice Walker: “Writing to Save My Life,” Interview with Claudia Dreifus from The Progressive (1989) [on politics and fiction writing]

Alice Walker’s Appeal: An Interview with Paula Giddings from Essence (1992)

Alice Walker, Jean Shinoda Bolen and Isabel Allende, “Giving Birth, Finding Form: Where Our Books Come From,” from Creative Conversations Series (1993) [on the feminist inspirations for her writing]

Alice Walker with Jody Hoy, “The Richness of Ordinary Stuff,” (1994) [on her personal philosophy]

Alice Walker: “My Life As Myself,” A Conversation with Tammy Simon from Sounds True Recordings (1995)

Alice Walker: “The World Is Made of Stories,” A Conversation with Justine Toms and Michael Toms from New Dimensions Tapes (1996)

Alice Walker: “On Finding Your Bliss,” Interview by Evelyn White from Ms. (1998)

Alice Walker and Pema Chodron In Conversation: “On the Meaning of Suffering and the Mystery of Joy” from Sounds True (1998) [on the importance of Buddhisim to her work and writing]

Alice Walker: “I know what the earth says,” Interview with William R. Ferris from Southern Cultures (2004) [on being a black female writer from the South]

Alice Walker and Margo Jefferson: A Conversation from LIVE FROM THE NYPL (2005) [on her success with the Color Purple, being a celebrity]

Alice Walker: Outlaw, Renegade, Rebel, Pagan by Amy Goodman from Democracy Now (March 2006)[on her politics and activism]

Alice Walker on Fidel Castro with George Galloway from The Fidel Castro Handbook (November 2006) [on why she supports Castro]

Conversation with Alice Walker by Marrianne Schnall from feminist.com (December 2006)

Conversation with Howard Zinn at City Lights Bookstore [date?] [on her Mississippi years, experiences with Zinn as a student, role of the civil rights movement in her work]