The World Has Changed: Conversations with Alice Walker

by Alice Walker, Rudolph P. Byrd (Editor)

The National Book Award– and Pulitzer Prize–winning author’s fascinating and far-reaching conversations with acclaimed writers and thought leaders.   Spanning more than three decades, this collection of fascinating discussions between Alice Walker and renowned writers, leaders, and teachers, explores the changes that Walker has experienced in the world, as well as the change she herself has brought to it.   Compelling literary and cultural figures such as Gloria Steinem, Pema Chödrön, and Howard Zinn represent a different stage in Walker’s artistic and spiritual development. Yet, they also offer an unprecedented look at her career and political growth. 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.   “Read as separate pieces, these conversations offer vivid glimpses of Walker’s energetic personality. Taken together, they offer a sense of her marvelous engagement with her world.” —Kirkus Reviews

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Literature, African American, Feminism, Buddhism, Biography

370 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 20, 2010

About the author

Noted American writer Alice Walker won a Pulitzer Prize for her stance against racism and sexism in such novels as The Color Purple (1982).

People awarded this preeminent author of stories, essays, and poetry of the United States. In 1983, this first African woman for fiction also received the national book award. Her other books include The Third Life of Grange Copeland , Meridian , The Temple of My Familiar , and Possessing the Secret of Joy . In public life, Walker worked to address problems of injustice, inequality, and poverty as an activist, teacher, and public intellectual.

Reviews

[Rowena · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was in China this month I met a university student who had given herself the English name Alice in homage to Alice Walker, who she said was one of the most powerful female writers she has ever come across. During a subway ride we discussed feminist black literature and it amazed me that I was having this conversation in a train with a stranger while I was travelling! But any friend of Alice Walker is a friend of mine.


This was a great series of conversations that Walker has had with several people, including Isabel Allende. She is so eloquent and through her conversations you learn more about her life, her passions, her future goals, the tough things she's been through (her illegal marriage, her abortion, etc.), motherhood, and literature. Her conversations about literature were very enlightening,and I had no idea that "The Colour Purple" had experienced such negative backlash.

Definitely a great read for all Walker fans. And have a notebook handy to write down all her book recommendations:)

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is something alluring about Alice Walker’s conversations, a few days with her and I could tell she practices meditation and yoga. Through these pages of her interviews, she seemed to be speaking calming words of wisdom to me. The interviews span thirty-six years (from 1973-2009) and the book is formatted to educate and stimulate, beginning with the formidable Introduction where I learned so much of her life history. I read this and had the same feeling I had after reading Cather and Baldwin: I knew I’d be visiting Alice Walker’s works this year.

Besides being the Pulitzer-prize-winner of The Color Purple that we all associate her with, Alice Walker is an essayist, an author of many novels, and a poet:

If there was any justice
in the world
I could have saved up
for it
and bought it
for the cost
of a fancy dress
or a modest
house.

So then, how could I have missed so many of her works? How is it that her works are not more palpable (or shall I say, on "approved" lists) at more colleges? She knew what it felt like to be an ostracized career woman and an African American writer in the south, and as I listened, her words dissolved the lump that had settled in my chest for the past few months. Walker grew up not too far from where I now work and even as a "Northerner" and outsider to these parts, I've seen some of what she speaks about. She taught seminars on black women writers (one at Wellesley), and most of us know by now that she uncovered Zora Neale Hurston's grave and Hurston's legacy (got us talking about and teaching Hurston again) but what I really admire is her willingness to be a renegade, in order to protect her creative soul:

If I could live as a tree, as a river, as the moon, as the sun, as a star, as the earth, as a rock, I would. Writing permits me to be more than I am. Writing permits me to experience life as any number of strange creations.

Walker left Spelman College to attend Sarah Lawrence, because she didn’t like how Spelman subjected their female students to forced pelvic exams—this she wrote about in Meridian, when Spelman appears as Saxon College. She later became pregnant and contemplated suicide because abortions were illegal. In her conversations, she mentions being a believer of expressing pain or trauma and this is evident in the way she was open to discussing her abortion and contemplated suicide, most of which she poured into her first book of poetry, which her college professor helped her publish. She has won numerous writing fellowships, even made millions as a writer, and yet you don't hear her mentioned as much.

Walker is also an activist. She was a vital literary activist of The Civil Rights Movement, a known women's activist, a children's rights activist, and a woman vocal about censorship. In fact when a reviewer of Toni Morrison's Sula suggested that Morrison stop writing about black women, Walker mailed in a rebuttal. She doesn’t hesitate to talk about things that most would not. Though she was married for nine years to a Jewish man (at a time when such a marriage was illegal in the South) and they had a child, she doesn’t believe that everyone should have children (and certainly no more than one) and she also doesn’t believe in marriage. She doesn't believe that she would have been able to do all she did, had she remained married, or had she had another child.

One thing I found entertaining was how she could talk about her characters as though they were alive, as is clear from her thoughts about Tashi, the character in Possessing the Secret of Joy:

Why would you marry someone who wanted a woman with big breasts? Why not just send him a couple of breasts? That’s what I would have done—I hope. I would have just asked somebody to make up two large breasts and put them in a box and send them to whatever-this-guy’s-name-is, you know?

She made me want to read Toomer and more of Camus, Hurston, Armah, Douglass, Du Bois and Morrison. Her curiosity of the world made her travel to parts of Africa, the Middle East, Russia, Cuba, France, Mexico, and each time, she wrote about the people and cultures she encountered. And reading about the creation of her book on female genital mutilation, after I’ve recently read and reviewed Do They Hear You When You Cry, made me appreciate her even more.

I think I started to write because I was in love with the feel of pen on paper, or pencil on paper, and that is something that I could do in solitude, and it was something that seemed to feed me as a little child.

[Joshunda Sanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a letter to the New York Times, over an insulting review of Toni Morrison's work, Alice Walker wrote this: "The time is gone forever when black people felt limited by themselves. We realize that we are, as ourselves, unlimited and our experiences valid. It is for the rest of the world to recognize this if they choose." The interviews span from 1973 to 2009, they include talks with Pema Chodron, Margo Jefferson, Evelyn C. White and Rudolph Byrd. There is a treasure trove of information in here. Here's another of my many favorite quotes from the book: "I have endeavored to live my life by my terms and that means I am a renegade, an outlaw, a pagan...and there is no reason not to rebel."

[Phobean · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The World Has Changed" was one of those surprise books I picked up on a whim that turned out to be exactly what I needed at the moment I needed it. Thanks, serendipity and thanks, Alice.

From what it means to be a talented black girl from an unusual family to what it means to have written books that have altered the lives of millions to what it means to be a radical activist in the US to what it means to build strong community and support systems to why it's sometimes a better idea to "disappear" rather than be a martyr to why it's important to strive to always be oneself, these interviews let us meet the inner Alice in a way I rarely see even in autobiographies. Additionally, I was intrigued by the various interviewers (often writers themselves).

Well-edited and full of humor, "The World Has Changed" is one to think on for a long time...


---

Just started this book, which is full of lovely quotes, like, "She was the only really black skinned girl at Spelman who would turn up dressed in stark white from head to toe -because she knew, instinctively, that white made an already beautiful black girl look like the answer to everybody's prayer."

[Brandelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Reading comes in layers: there's the reading one does to understand the current crisis, whatever it is; the reading for pleasure; the reading for the soul." Alice Walker
This book was a gift to my soul. I will treasure every lesson, hug, forehead kiss, nudge and outright push toward myself at a time when everything felt chaotic. The words and thoughts and serenity of Ms. Walker is something that I will cherish for a lifetime. Somehow, along the way, this book became my journal and houses all of my notes, tears, thoughts, ideas, and revelations that were sparked by these strings of words. This is a book that I will treasure always. I look forward to reading it again in a year, to see where I am and how this book will impact me again. What a wonderful, wonderful treasure.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

The selection of essays and interviews are as usual insightful and meditative. What I found notable, is the introductory essay by R. Byrd. Most books included a perfunctory forward or lackluster introduction. Instead, Byrd writes one f the best essays on the life, loves, and tragedies of Walker. I highly recommend this book. I still have an essay or two left to read, but I will likely come back to some essays I have already read again and again.

[Black Bibliophile · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was stunning, spectacular. I just love the way she thinks, everything is wholesome, yet vulnerable and she is fulled with impregnable energy and wisdom. Perfect read. I think this book both captures the essence of the prolific and imaginative Alice Walker and still is a jumping off point for readers who know nothing about her work.

[Meghan Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked around and read probably only half of these conversations, depending on my interest in the person (with whom she was talking) and the topic. But I loved each and every one of them, and have come to really adore Alice Walker. Great stuff in here on Buddhism, Cuba, country living, race/racism, feminism, the writing process, and more. It's also beautiful to see the great love and mutual respect with other folks I admire: Howard Zinn, Pema Chodron, and Amy Goodman.

[BookChampions · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's quite impressive that this much wisdom was compiled from just interviews and phone conversations. Alice Walker was a true gift to me when I discovered her as a teenage boy, and she still is. Reading these conversations has reminded me of just how much of an impact she has had on my worldview. Her optimism, her spiritualism, her conviction, creativity, her courage and common sense are all over these pages. Such an inspiration to me still.

[Ms. Online]

The World Has Changed: Conversations
with Alice Walker
Edited by Rudolph P. Byrd
The New Press

Walker talks with the likes of Gloria Steinem, Pema Chodron and Howard Zinn in this compilation, which spans more than two decades and reveals her humor, compassion and commitment
to social change.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of interviews featuring Alice Walker.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alice unplugged. More at www.cloquetriverpress.com.
Peace
Mark

[Gianna Mosser · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much wonderful insight on the writing and politics of one of my favorite women of all time. I wish I could be as strong in myself as the great A.W. The interviews with other writers were really fun as well. Sometimes I felt that the content became a little bit repetitive, in terms of the basic premises and biographical details that inform the works. But it was inspiring and comforting in its consistent portrayal of this iconic practitioner of feminist fiction.

[Briana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a collection of interviews with Alice Walker. Some interview chapters drag on while others conclude far too quickly. One or two are just right. (Watch for Walker's descriptions of growing up in rural Georgia under Jim Crow laws and for her elaborations on developing fictional characters in her head.) While I can appreciate the book's value, I suspect the audio files would be more engaging.

[Rena Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book of various interviews of Alice by journalists, publicists and friends.

Well-presented views of Alice's writing style, her views on world peace, the Civil Rights Movement, FGM, and other issues of national and international concern that she written about or worked to bring awareness to.

[Donald · Rating 1 out of 5]

Since I disagree with just about everything she says in this book, I found it to be repetitive, contradictory liberal claptrap, though she did have a few things interesting to say about the creative writing process.

[Colleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I expected.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alice Walker, you're my hero, let's face it.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really really liked it!

[Christie P · Rating 5 out of 5]

After hearing Ms. Walker speak recently, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and experiencing the mind of Ms. Walker and her writing process.

[Indigo Night]

Good, but don't try to read it straight through!

[Janell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good way to get to know AW.

[Michael Duane Robbins · Rating 1 out of 5]

I confess; this is the first thing I've actually read by Ms. Walker. Even so it is an eye-opener in so many ways.

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really essays - were interviews & talks - but is the category I have that is closest. Covers a variety of cherry-picked interviews over 40-some years, felt repetitive & a way to help her define her public image rather than a well-rounded picture of her as an artist or person