Time Line

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  • 1978:  Alice Walker is awarded a Guggenheim Foundation Grant.

  • 1979: She packs up her bags in New York, sells her house and moves to San Francisco to begin writing on her third novel.

  • 1981: Her second collection of short stories comes out, You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down.

  • 1982: Alice Walker's third Novel The Color Purple is published and is nominated for a National Book Award.

  • 1982: Alice Walker becomes a professor at University of California duirng the Spring and Bradeis University during the Fall.

  • 1983: Her first collection of essays In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens is Published

  • 1984: Her third collection of poems come out, Horses Make a Landscape More Beautiful.

  • 1984: Her publishing company,Wild Trees Press is begun with her long-time boyfriend, Robert Allen.
  • 1986:  The Color Purple premieres on January 18 in her hometown of Eatonton, GA.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY

Vital Statistics

  • Born February 9, 1944 in Eatonton, GA, which is a farming community in Middle Georgia.

  • Has written 5 novels, 4 books of essays and 5 poetry books (one being a collected work of poems.) The most famous of her books is of course The Color Purple which was nominated for a National Book Critics' Award, and won a American Book Award.

  • Was the first African-American ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

  • She currently lives in Mendocino, California with her dog Marley. Her most recent book is By the Light of My Father's Smile.