'These journals are a revelation, a road map and a gift to us all' TAYARI JONES, author of An American Marriage From the acclaimed author Alice Walker - winner of the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize - comes an unprecedented compilation of four decades' worth of journals that draw an intimate portrait of her development as an artist, intellectual and human rights activist. In Gathering Blossoms Under Fire, Walker offers a passionate, intimate record of her intellectual, artistic and political development. She also intimately explores - in real time - her thoughts and feelings as a woman, a writer, an African American, a wife, a daughter, a mother, a lover, a sister, a friend, a citizen of the world. In an unvarnished and singular voice, she writes about an astonishing array of events: marching in Mississippi with other foot soldiers of the civil rights movement, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., or 'the King' as she called him; her marriage to a Jewish lawyer, partly to defy laws that barred interracial marriage in the 1960s South; an early miscarriage; the birth of her daughter; writing her first novel; the trials and triumphs of the women's movement; erotic encounters and enduring relationships; the 'ancestral visits' that led her to write The Color Purple; winning the Pulitzer Prize; being admired and maligned, in sometimes equal measure, for her work and her activism; burying her mother; and her estrangement from her own daughter. The personal and the political are layered and intertwined in the revealing narrative that emerges from Walker's journals.

In the 1960s, students of Spelman College, a black liberal arts college for women, were drawn into historic civil rights protests occurring across Atlanta, leading to the arrest of some for participating in sit-ins in the local community. A young Howard Zinn (future author of the worldwide best seller A People's History of the United States) was a professor of history at Spelman during this era and served as an adviser to the Atlanta sit-in movement and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Zinn mentored many of Spelman's students fighting for civil rights at the time, including Alice Walker and Marian Wright Edelman. As a key facilitator of the Spelman student movement, Zinn supported students who challenged and criticized the campus's paternalistic social restrictions, even when this led to conflicts with the Spelman administration. Zinn's involvement with the Atlanta student movement and his closeness to Spelman's leading student and faculty activists gave him an insider's view of that movement and of the political and intellectual world of Spelman, Atlanta University, and the SNCC. Robert Cohen presents a thorough historical overview as well as an entree to Zinn's diary. One of the most extensive records of the political climate on a historically black college in 1960s America, Zinn's diary offers an in-depth view. It is a fascinating historical document of the free speech, academic freedom, and student rights battles that rocked Spelman and led to Zinn's dismissal from the college in 1963 for supporting the student movement.

An essential read in conversation with storytellers today.

A powerful cultural touchstone of modern American literature, The Color Purple depicts the lives of African American women in early-twentieth-century rural Georgia. Separated as girls, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to and hope in each other across time, distance, and silence. Through a series of letters spanning nearly thirty years, first from Celie to God, then from the sisters to each other, the novel draws readers into a rich and memorable portrayal of Black women—their pain and struggle, companionship and growth, resilience and bravery.

Deeply compassionate and beautifully imagined, The Color Purple breaks the silence around domestic and sexual abuse, and carries readers on an epic and spirit-affirming journey toward transformation, redemption, and love.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Alice Walker's iconic modern classic is now a Penguin Book. A powerful cultural touchstone of modern American literature, The Color Purple depicts the lives of African American women in early twentieth-century rural Georgia. Separated as girls, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to and hope in each other across time, distance and silence. Through a series of letters spanning twenty years, first from Celie to God, then the sisters to each other despite the unknown, the novel draws readers into its rich and memorable portrayals of Celie, Nettie, Shug Avery and Sofia and their experience. The Color Purple broke the silence around domestic and sexual abuse, narrating the lives of women through their pain and struggle, companionship and growth, resilience and bravery. Deeply compassionate and beautifully imagined, Alice Walker's epic carries readers on a spirit-affirming journey towards redemption and love.

The real story behind the making of THE COLOR PURPLE in the author's own words In the early 1980s, The Color Purple was a runaway success, it had won the Pulitzer Prize and Steven Spielberg was making the book into a film. Yet behind all the critical success, Alice Walker suffered an extreme backlash as she became the object of attacks both personal and political. Her detractors claimed that she hated black men, that her work was injurious to black male and female relationships; and that her ideas about equality were harmful to the black community. Such was the ferocity of these attacks that she left her own community north of San Francisco and sought refuge in Mexico. On a personal level, her mother had suffered a major stroke and now Alice Walker herself fell gravely ill with the extremely debilitating condition, Lyme disease. To add to the trauma, her partner of many years announced he'd been having an affair. In her heartfelt and extremely personal account of this time, Alice Walker describes the experience of watching the film being made as she weathered the controversy surrounding it and came to terms with the changes in her own life.

ONE OF THE BBC '100 NOVELS THAT SHAPED OUR WORLD' 'A lush celebration of all that it means to be a black female' Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 'A story about Black women living in the intersections of racialized and gendered violence, who find liberation through community with each other. A brutal and beautiful novel' Brit Bennett 'Every single time I read this book, I walk away as a slightly better person than I was when I picked it up' Tayari Jones 'I think that The Color Purple was the first book that made me think that I could try to be a writer - or that made me aware that a young black woman from the South could write about the South' Jesmyn Ward 'I got the book and read it, in one day, when it came out. And then I went back, the next day, and bought every copy they had' Oprah Winfrey Sisters Celie and Nettie share the pain and struggle of growing up as African American women in early twentieh-century rural Georgia. Forced into an abusive marriage, at least Celie can offer Nettie refuge from their violent father in her new home - until Nettie catches the attention of Celie's husband and is forced to leave and forge her own journey. Through a series of letters spanning twenty years - first from Celie to God, then between the two sisters - they manage to sustain their hope in each other across time, distance and silence, in a triumph of resilience, bravery and ultimately, love.

A powerful account, by Israeli peace activist Miko Peled, of his transformation from a young man who'd grown up in the heart of Israel's elite and served proudly in its military into a fearless advocate of nonviolent struggle and equal rights for all Palestinians and Israelis.

His journey is mirrored in many ways the transformation his father, a much-decorated Israeli general, had undergone three decades earlier. Alice Walker contributed a foreword to the first edition in which she wrote, "There are few books on the Israel/Palestine issue that seem as hopeful to me as this one."

In the new Epilogue he takes readers to South Africa, East Asia, several European countries, and the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel itself.

Abducted from Africa, sold in America. "A deeply affecting record of an extraordinary life"- Daily Telegraph A major literary event: a newly published work from the author of the American classic Their Eyes Were Watching God, with a foreword from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker. The true story of one of the last-known survivors of the Atlantic slave trade. In August 1931, famed anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston travelled to Alabama to visit ninety-year-old Cudjo Lewis, a former slave. Over three months, Cudjo shared heart-rending memories of his childhood in Africa; the horrors of being captured - fifty years after slavery was outlawed - and held in the Ouidah barracoons for selection by American slavers; the harrowing ordeal of the Middle Passage aboard the Clotilda with over one hundred other souls; and the years he spent in slavery. Barracoon brings to life Cudjo's singular voice in an invaluable contribution to history and culture, a work as poignant as it is profound.

THE ICONIC CLASSIC, WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE ONE OF THE BBC '100 NOVELS THAT SHAPED OUR WORLD' 'A lush celebration of all that it means to be a black female. I love that The Color Purple doesn't try to soften its blows but is also courageous enough to hold on to a wonderfully affirming faith in possibility, in forgiveness and kindness and hope' Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 'The Color Purple is my go-to comfort novel. Every single time I read this book, I walk away as a slightly better person than I was when I picked it up' Tayari Jones 'I think that The Color Purple was the first book that made me think that I could try to be a writer - or that made me aware that a young black woman from the South could write about the South' Jesmyn Ward 'I got the book and read it, in one day, when it came out. And then I went back, the next day, and bought every copy they had' Oprah Winfrey A powerful cultural touchstone of modern American literature, The Color Purple depicts the lives of African American women in early twentieth-century rural Georgia. Separated as girls, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to and hope in each other across time, distance and silence through a series of letters spanning twenty years, first from Celie to God, then the sisters to each other despite the unknown. Abused repeatedly by the man she calls 'father', Celie has two children taken away from her and is trapped into an ugly marriage. But then she meets the glamorous Shug Avery, singer and magic-maker - a woman who has taken charge of her own destiny. And gradually Celie discovers the power and joy of her own spirit, freeing her from her past and reuniting her with those she loves. Beloved by generations of readers, The Color Purple broke the silence around domestic and sexual abuse, narrating the lives of women through their pain and struggle, companionship and growth, resilience and bravery. Deeply compassionate and beautifully imagined, Alice Walker's epic carries readers on a spirit-affirming journey towards redemption and love. 'A story about Black women living in the intersections of racialized and gendered violence, who find liberation through community with each other. A brutal and beautiful novel' Brit Bennett 'One of the most haunting books you could ever wish to read. It is stunning - moving, exciting and wonderful' Lenny Henry 'The Color Purple needs no category other than the fact that it is superb' Rita Mae Brown 'The great irony about The Color Purple is that it transcends colour. One of the greatest books of all time' Benjamin Zephaniah 'A unique blend of serenity and immediacy that makes your senses ache' Helen Dunmore 'A genuinely mind-expanding book' Patrick Ness 'Indelibly affecting... Alice Walker is a lavishly gifted writer' New York Times 'One of the great books of our time' Essence Magazine 'A work to stand beside literature of any time and place' San Francisco Chronicle

________________ 'This anthology will help turn your intellectual understanding of oppression into an emotional one' - New Statesman 'Thanks for being who you are and for giving us such exposure to wonderful people. Palestine is proud of you' - Suad Amiry ________________ The Palestine Festival of Literature was established in 2008. Bringing together writers from all corners of the globe, it aims to help Palestinians break the cultural siege imposed by the Israeli military occupation, to strengthen their artistic links with the rest of the world, and to reaffirm, in the words of Edward Said, 'the power of culture over the culture of power'. Celebrating the tenth anniversary of PalFest, This Is Not a Border is a collection of essays, poems and stories from some of the world's most distinguished artists, responding to their experiences at this unique festival. Both heartbreaking and hopeful, their gathered work is a testament to the power of literature to promote solidarity and courage in the most desperate of situations. Contributors: Susan Abulhawa, Suad Amiry, Victoria Brittain, Jehan Bseiso, Teju Cole, Molly Crabapple, Selma Dabbagh, Mahmoud Darwish, Najwan Darwish, Geoff Dyer, Yasmin El-Rifae, Adam Foulds, Ru Freeman, Omar Robert Hamilton, Suheir Hammad, Nathalie Handal, Mohammed Hanif, Jeremy Harding, Rachel Holmes, John Horner, Remi Kanazi, Brigid Keenan, Mercedes Kemp, Omar El-Khairy, Nancy Kricorian, Sabrina Mahfouz, Jamal Mahjoub, Henning Mankell, Claire Messud, China Mieville, Pankaj Mishra, Deborah Moggach, Muiz, Maath Musleh, Michael Palin, Ed Pavlic, Atef Abu Saif, Kamila Shamsie, Raja Shehadeh, Gillian Slovo, Ahdaf Soueif, Linda Spalding, Will Sutcliffe, Alice Walker With messages from China Achebe, Michael Ondaatje and J. M. Coetzee ________________ 'Every literary act, whether it is a great epic poem or an honest piece of journalism or a simple nonsense tale for children is a blow against the forces of stupidity and ignorance and darkness ... The Palestine Festival of Literature exists to do just that - and I salute it for its work. Not only this year but for as long as it is necessary' - Philip Pullman

'My life suddenly made sense when I encountered Alice Walker's fiction' Tayari Jones 'Remarkable' New York Times Meridian Hill, the brilliant and inquisitive daughter of a working-class Black family in the American south, comes of age against the turbulent backdrop of the 1960s civil rights movement. Life starts out hard - at seventeen, she finds herself married with a child and denied an education because of it. But Meridian is passionate and resolute, determined to improve the lives of those around her, even in the face of oppression and uncertainty, heartbreak and failing health. And amid the chaos of social upheaval, Meridian discovers who she is - a woman capable of great courage, resilience and hope. Charting the story of the civil rights movement through one woman's struggle, Meridian is a powerful meditation on community, womanhood and self-discovery from the Pulitzer-prize winning author of The Color Purple.

The New York Times bestselling book that both galvanizes progressives for action and is a balm--from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author "A light in darkness, Alice Walker awakens us to our own power as only she can. . . . Once again, Walker has exceeded our expectations." --The Atlanta Journal-Constitution When the United States recently exploded with unprecedented demonstrations challenging racial violence and hatred, Alice Walker's New York Times bestselling We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For was one of the books to which people turned for inspiration and solace. Called "stunningly insightful" and "a book that will inspire hope" by Publishers Weekly, this work by the author of The Color Purple is a clarion call to activism--spiritual ruminations with a progressive political edge, that offer a moment of care and solace. Walker encourages readers to take faith in the fact that, despite our daunting predicaments, we are uniquely prepared to create positive change. Drawing on Walker's spiritual grounding and her progressive political convictions, the book offers a cornucopia of the Pulitzer Prize winner's writings and speeches on advocacy, struggle, and hope. Each chapter concludes with a recommended meditation to teach patience, compassion, and forgiveness. Walker's clear vision and calm meditative voice--truly "a light in darkness"--has struck a deep chord among a large and devoted readership.

The collected poems of the Pulitzer Prize winning author of THE COLOR PURPLE. 'I am the woman offering two flowers whose roots are twin. Justice and Hope Hope and Justice Let us begin' Alice Walker has been writing poetry since the summer of 1965, when she travelled to East Africa and began the collection ONCE while sitting beneath a tree facing Mount Kenya. Encompassing the collections ONCE, REVOLUTIONARY PETUNIAS & OTHER POEMS, GOOD NIGHT WILLIE LEE I'LL SEE YOU IN THE MORNING, and HORSES MAKE A LANDSCAPE LOOK MORE BEAUTIFUL as well as other poems, this is a wonderful, surprising, entertaining collection that offers a historical perspective on the evolution of both the poetry itself and the political and spiritual inspiration behind it.

'An extraordinarily diverse collection; pure Walker, fresh-eyed and sassy' NEW YORK TIMES Living by the Word is a memorable collection of essays, letters and journal extracts from Pulitzer Prize winner, Alice Walker. In her own immaculate prose, Alice Walker opens an intimate window to her world - whether it be her troubled relationship with her father, her upbringing amidst the poverty of rural Georgia, her daughter Rebecca, or simply her joy in choosing plants for her garden, planning the colours of her home, or relishing the taste of freshly picked vegetables. In other essays she explores themes such as the nature of dreams, justice, folklore and the role of ancestors. She details the story of Dessie Woods who was sent to jail for murdering her would-be rapist and highlights the role of racism and prejudice in the law's treatment of black women. Finally we travel with her on her journey to China, to Bali, and a visit to Nine Miles - the birthplace of the legendary Bob Marley.

John Dover Wilson's New Shakespeare, published between 1921 and 1966, became the classic Cambridge edition of Shakespeare's plays and poems until the 1980s. The series, long since out-of-print, is now reissued. Each work is available both individually and as a set, and each contains a lengthy and lively introduction, main text, and substantial notes and glossary printed at the back. The edition, which began with The Tempest and ended with The Sonnets, put into practice the techniques and theories that had evolved under the 'New Bibliography'. Remarkably by today's standards, although it took the best part of half a century to produce, the New Shakespeare involved only a small band of editors besides Dover Wilson himself. As the volumes took shape, many of Dover Wilson's textual methods acquired general acceptance and became an established part of later editorial practice, for example in the Arden and New Cambridge Shakespeares.

THE ICONIC CLASSIC, WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE ONE OF THE BBC '100 NOVELS THAT SHAPED OUR WORLD' 'A lush celebration of all that it means to be a black female. I love that The Color Purple doesn't try to soften its blows but is also courageous enough to hold on to a wonderfully affirming faith in possibility, in forgiveness and kindness and hope' Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 'The Color Purple is my go-to comfort novel. Every single time I read this book, I walk away as a slightly better person than I was when I picked it up' Tayari Jones 'I think that The Color Purple was the first book that made me think that I could try to be a writer - or that made me aware that a young black woman from the South could write about the South' Jesmyn Ward 'I got the book and read it, in one day, when it came out. And then I went back, the next day, and bought every copy they had' Oprah Winfrey A powerful cultural touchstone of modern American literature, The Color Purple depicts the lives of African American women in early twentieth-century rural Georgia. Separated as girls, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to and hope in each other across time, distance and silence through a series of letters spanning twenty years, first from Celie to God, then the sisters to each other despite the unknown. Abused repeatedly by the man she calls 'father', Celie has two children taken away from her and is trapped into an ugly marriage. But then she meets the glamorous Shug Avery, singer and magic-maker - a woman who has taken charge of her own destiny. And gradually Celie discovers the power and joy of her own spirit, freeing her from her past and reuniting her with those she loves. Beloved by generations of readers, The Color Purple broke the silence around domestic and sexual abuse, narrating the lives of women through their pain and struggle, companionship and growth, resilience and bravery. Deeply compassionate and beautifully imagined, Alice Walker's epic carries readers on a spirit-affirming journey towards redemption and love. 'One of the most haunting books you could ever wish to read. It is stunning - moving, exciting and wonderful' Lenny Henry 'The Color Purple needs no category other than the fact that it is superb' Rita Mae Brown 'The great irony about The Color Purple is that it transcends colour. One of the greatest books of all time' Benjamin Zephaniah 'A unique blend of serenity and immediacy that makes your senses ache' Helen Dunmore 'A genuinely mind-expanding book' Patrick Ness 'Indelibly affecting... Alice Walker is a lavishly gifted writer' New York Times 'One of the great books of our time' Essence Magazine 'A work to stand beside literature of any time and place' San Francisco Chronicle

In this exquisite book, Alice Walker's first new collection of poetry since 1991, are poems that reaffirm her as "one of the best American writers of today" ("The Washington Post"). The forces of nature and the strength of the human spirit inspire the poems in Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth. Alice Walker opens us to feeling and understanding, with poems that cover a broad spectrum of emotions. With profound artistry, Walker searches for, discovers, and declares the
fundamental beauty of existence, as she explores what it means to experience life fully, to learn from it, and to grow both as an individual and as part of a greater spiritual community.
About Walker's Horses Make a Landscape Look More Beautiful, "America" said, "In the tradition of Whitman, Walker sings, celebrates and agonizes over the ordinary vicissitudes that link and separate all of humankind," and the same can be said about this astonishing new collection, Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth.

Alice Walker's first book recounts the lives of three generations growing up in Georgia, where the author herself grew up. Grange Copeland is a black tenant farmer who is forced to leave his land and family in search of a better future. He heads North but discovers that the racism and poverty he experienced in the South are, in fact, everywhere. When he returns to Georgia years later he finds that his son Brownfield has been imprisoned for the murder of his wife. But hope comes in the form of the third generation as the guardian of the couple's youngest daughter, Grange Copeland, who glimpses a chance of both spiritual and social freedom.

Tending one’s fields, visiting a relative, going to the hospital: for ordinary Palestinians, such activities require negotiating permits and passes, curfews and closures, “sterile roads” and “seam zones”—bureaucratic hurdles ultimately as deadly as outright military incursion. In Palestine Inside Out, Saree Makdisi draws on eye-opening statistics, academic histories, UN reports, and contemporary journalism to reveal how the “peace process” institutionalized Palestinians’ loss of control over their inner and outer lives—and argues powerfully and convincingly for a one-state solution.

The Russell Tribunal on Palestine is a people's tribunal in the spirit of the Tribunal on Vietnam that was set up by Bertrand Russell in the 1960s. This book contains a selection of the most vital evidence and testimonies presented at the London session. It includes the papers submitted to the tribunal, written by expert witnesses, based on their detailed research into the companies that prop-up Israeli occupation. Examining the involvement of corporations in the illegal occupation of Palestinian land by Israel, the tribunal of 2010 generated widespread media coverage. The book identifies companies and corporations participating in such illegality and possibilities for legal action against them are discussed. Released to coincide with the South Africa session at the end of 2011, Corporate Complicity in Israel's Occupation is a vital resource to lawyers, journalists and activists hoping to take informed action against Israeli war crimes and occupation.