Alice Walker Archive Opens at Emory April 23

The first public exhibition of papers and other memorabilia from the extraordinary archives of Georgia-born Pulitzer Prize winner Alice Walker will open at Emory University Thursday, April 23.

The university will celebrate the opening with a daylong symposium on the author's art and life Friday, April 24, followed by a public talk by Walker at 8 p.m. that evening.

"A Keeping of Records: The Art and Life of Alice Walker," which opens in the Schatten Gallery of the Robert W. Woodruff Library, features 200 items drawn from one of the most complete archives in existence, according to curator Rudolph Byrd, Goodrich C. White Professor of American Studies.

Among the materials featured in the exhibition are Walker's scrapbook, which she began keeping when she was 14 years old; drafts of her early writings; photographs; and her notebooks, including those for "The Color Purple." The quilt Walker created while writing "The Color Purple" will be on display April 23 and 24.

"The Walker archive is unique among archives at Emory and elsewhere for its richness," says Byrd. "It is evidence of Walker's belief and self-awareness that she would become an important American writer. The materials date back to her sixth year of life and end in 2007, and include drafts of all her manuscripts, handwritten and typed."

The exhibition highlights the major periods, events and projects in Walker's life in chronological order; explores her personal and professional life roles; and establishes the cultural and historical context in which she worked.

The daylong symposium on Walker is scheduled April 24 at the Emory Conference Center Hotel. Sponsored by Emory's James Weldon Johnson Institute, the 8:15 a.m.-5:30 p.m. symposium features:

• Gloria Steinem, journalist, activist and co-founding publisher of Ms. Magazine

• Howard Zinn, American historian and professor emeritus at Boston University, active in civil rights, civil liberties and anti-war movements

• Susan Booth, artistic director of Atlanta's Alliance Theatre at the Woodruff Arts Center

• Michael Awkward, Afro-American literature and culture scholar, University of Michigan

• Scott Sanders, producer of "The Color Purple" at the Broadway Theater in New York in December 2006

• Susan Kirshner, British and women's literature scholar, Lewis and Clark College

• Deborah Plant, Africana studies scholar, University of South Florida

• Cheryl Wall, scholar of English literature and Black female writers, Rutgers University

• Evelyn White, journalist and independent scholar who authored "Alice Walker: A Life."

The symposium is followed that evening by an 8 p.m. talk by Walker. "Reflections on the Turning of the Wheel: Living a Life of Freedom and Choice" is scheduled for Glenn Memorial Auditorium, 1652 N. Decatur Rd.

Walker has authored 26 books that span the genres of the novel, poetry and the essay. In 1983 she won the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award for her novel "The Color Purple," which has been adapted for film and stage. Walker placed her archive at Emory in 2007.