Alice Walker in SA

Posted by marieClairvoyant on Sep 9, 2010 in celebrity, events | 0 comments

The American poet, author and activist Alice Walker (she of the great The Color Purple) is giving the Steve Biko Memorial lecture this evening at UCT. She warned earlier on in the week to ‘expect nothing’ saying ‘I live frugally on surprise; that is to say, I don’t foresee even my own behaviour. I prefer to be spontaneous.’
Unfortunately, Prof Walker is notoriously interview shy and likes to keep her private life just that – but what a life she’s had. The first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, she married a jewish civil rights lawyer making them the first legally married interracial couple in the state of missipissi; she’s passionate about race and gender issues and has been arrested for protesting; she’s spoken out about female circumcision, Gaza, and the Rwandan genocide. She’s American but feels a deep sense of belonging in Africa, saying, ‘I take comfort in the reality that we are all Africans. Everywhere, Sweden, Paris we are all Africans.’
Oh and she’s a lady after our own hearts – she’s a blogger. ‘I love blogging,’ she said in an interview. ‘I find it so freeing. I cant wait to hear her speak. (Alice Walker pictured bove with her partner Garrett Larson)
Vanessa MC