Alice Walker

Alice Walker makes her living by writing, and her poems, short stories, and novels, have won many awards and fellowships for her. She was born in Eatonton, Georgia. She went to public schools there, and then to Spelman College in Atlanta before coming to New York to attend Sarah Lawrence College, from which she graduated in 1966. For a time, she lived in Jackson Mississippi, with her lawyer husband and small daughter. About Langston Hughes, American Poet, her first book for children, she says:

"After my first meeting with Langston Hughes I vowed I would write a book about him for children someday. Why? Because I, at twenty-two, knew next to nothing of his work, and he didn't scold me; he just gave me a stack of his books. And he was kind to me; I will always be grateful that in his absolute warmth and generosity he fulfilled my deepest dream (and need) of what a poet should be."

"To me he is not dead at all. Hardly a day goes by that I don't think of him or speak of him. Once, just before he died, when he was sick with the flu, I took him a sack full of oranges. The joy I felt in giving that simple gift is undiminished by time. He said he liked oranges, too."