Alice Walker Comes to the Washington Center!

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Alice Walker Comes to the Washington Center!

 

Alice Walker is a highly acclaimed author and activist well known for her incredible novel-turned-classic, “The Color Purple.” This Friday, at 7:30 PM, she will be coming to speak at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Olympia This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to listen to, and see this amazing woman in person. Her works, and her life have changed the course of literature forever, and continue to do so today.

Born in 1944, Walker began her writing secretly at the age of eight, and published her first work, a book of poetry, as a senior in college. Her first novel, “The Third Life of Grange Copeland,” was a tale about a slave on a cotton plantation who left his family for the freedoms of the North. Once there, he finds that the “grass isn’t always greener on the other side” so to speak. He finds room and board at the Dew Drop Inn, owned by a woman named Josie. He lives with her and her two daughters, eventually marrying one of them. Succeeding a tragic and sinister series of events, Grange eventually returns home to the South. The only place he was truly ever at home. Some have theorized that the novel is a disguised autobiography, with the characters being representative of Alice Walker’s childhood with her parents.

After, “The Third Life of Grange Copeland,” Walker went on to write four more novels before, “The Color Purple,” was published in 1982. As many know, that was the novel that really propelled her both into the literary spotlight, and into the media when the book was turned into an award-winning film in 1985. Capturing the hearts and minds of viewers and readers across the globe with its heart-wrenching sojourn into the darkness of American slavery.

While most know Alice Walker as simply, “the woman who wrote ‘The Color Purple’,” she went on to follow her passion and continues to write to this day. Currently, she has over thirty published works under her belt. In addition, there is another side to this amazing woman. More than Alice Walker the author, she is also Alice Walker the activist.

Her work as an activist began when she was a student at Spelman College in the 1960’s. There, she met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and was inspired to become an activist in the South, helping to register African-American voters, and participating in the historic march on Washington D.C in 1963. Today, she continues to be active in furthering women’s and children’s rights and protection in America and the Middle East. She is heavily involved in the Rachel Corrie Foundation; the organization for which she will be delivering the keynote address; kicking off its 2011 Peace Works Conference. The foundation is named after a young woman who lost her life in Gaza trying to protect a native family’s home from being destroyed. The Rachel Corrie Foundation is also associated with another organization that Walker is involved in called, Code Pink: Women for Peace. A growing grassroots activism group primarily composed of women, who seek to end the wars and conflicts in the Middle East, and focus on reforms in American healthcare, education, and the growth of green jobs.

Alice Walker is an inspiration. Do not miss this chance to see her this Friday! Learn about her work as an activist, an author, and get the chance to ask her some questions of our own when she fields questions from the audience! For more information about the event, how to purchase tickets, or the Code Pink: Women for Peace organization, see below.

Event Time: The event will take place on Stage One at 7:30PM at the Washington Center: 512 Washington Street SE Olympia, WA 98501

Ticket Prices:  Adults: $22.50, Students/Self-Determined Low-Income: $10.00 Also keep in mind that the Center charges an extra $2.50 service fee on top of all ticket prices.

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