The World Has Changed: Conversations with Alice Walker [Hardcover]

Alice Walker (Author), Rudolph P. Byrd (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 11, 2010

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

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

Reveals her humor, compassion and commitment to social change.
—Ms. Magazine

Walker fans will appreciate this fascinating look at the writer and personality.
—Booklist

[A]n exceptionally unusual biography . . . a gentle testament to interviewing and rich conversation.
—Metro Times

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Alice Walker is one of the most prolific writers of our time, known for her literary fiction, including the Pultizer Prize-winning The Color Purple, her many volumes of poetry, and her powerful nonfiction collections. Her advocacy for the dispossessed has spanned the globe. She lives in Northern California.

Rudolph P. Byrd is a professor of American studies and the founding director of the James Weldon Johnson Institute at Emory University. His books include The Essential Writings of James Weldon Johnson and Charles Johnson’s Novels: Writing the American Palimpsest. He played an instrumental role in Emory's acquisition of the papers of Georgia native Alice Walker in 2008-2009 and is the founding co-chair of the Alice Walker Literary Society.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: New Press, The; 1st Printing edition (May 11, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159558496X
• ISBN-13: 978-1595584960
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #303,265 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rudolph P. Byrd is a professor of American studies and the founding director of the James Weldon Johnson Institute at Emory University. His books include The Essential Writings of James Weldon Johnson and Charles Johnson's Novels: Writing the American Palimpsest.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Still reading but enjoying what I've read so far, September 17, 2010

By 

Andrea Roberts (Philadelphia,PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The World Has Changed: Conversations with Alice Walker (Hardcover)

This is the first book I've read with an exciting introduction. With the controversies surrounding Walker over the years it is great to see her evolution of thought in tandem with her life experience. Not every chapter holds you spellbound, but the ones that do, really do.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Q & A" with author Alice Walker, October 7, 2010

By 

A. B. Jackson "andreabjackson" (Yeadon, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The World Has Changed: Conversations with Alice Walker (Hardcover)

10/07/10 18* of the 19 chapters of "The World Has Changed",(Pgs 35-322)(*exclusive of Chapter 13 which has several paragraphs preceded by topic captions) have a 'diversity of questions' which don't make for 'too much repetition', although they're all interviews of the same interviewee, author Ms Alice Walker...(Mr Rudolph P. Byrd,whose interview is Chapter 19, is also the book's editor)..The book covers interviews done from the years 1973-2009...;It also contains(Pgs 327-331): brief profiles of the many interviewers:(surnames : Allende,Bolen,Byrd,Bring,Chodron,Dreifus,Ferris,Galloway,Giddings,Goodman,Hoy,Jefferson,O'Brien,Schnall,Simon,Swick,Tate,Toms,White,and Zinn).There is a Chronology, 'several poems throughout', an index captioned: "An Index of People and works" and several photos in the 'Introduction section(Pages 1-34)'.