🎯 Where Should I Start?
ⓘ About Alice Walker
Alice Walker is a famous and celebrated American author as well as poet, novelist, activist, and essay and story writer. Born February 9, 1944, in Georgia, Walker has been established as one of the preeminent writers to come out of the United States. Her writing has won her many awards. She would go on to be the first woman of African-American descent to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1983 for The Color Purple, which would win the National Book Award the same year. Alice Walker is known for having a creative vision that is stationed in a variety of themes, including economic struggles and hardship, racial terror, African American folk wisdom, culture, and life (especially in the rural American South).
All Book Series by Alice Walker
Possessing the Secret of Joy
Latest in the series · book 3 of 3 · published 1992
Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart
Latest in the series · book 5 of 5 · published 2004
Good Night, Willie Lee, I'll See You in the Morning
Book 4 of 19 · published 1979
Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart
Latest in the series · book 19 of 19 · published 2018
Sweet People Are Everywhere
Latest in the series · book 2 of 2 · published 2021 Co-authored · Torres Quim
There Is a Flower at the Tip of My Nose Smelling Me
Book 13 of 21 · published 2006
Gathering Blossoms Under Fire
Latest in the series · book 21 of 21 · published 2020
Listening for God Reader, Vol. 1
Series opener · book 1 of 4 · published 1994 Co-authored · Flannery O'Connor,Raymond Carver,Garrison Keillor,Annie Dillard,Richard Rodríguez,Patricia Hampl,Peter Hawkins,Frederick Buechner,Paula J. Carlson,Peter S. Hawkins
Listening for God, Vol. 2
Book 2 of 4 · published 1996 Anthology · Anne Tyler,John Updike,Tobias Wolff,Gail Godwin,Henry Louis Gates Jr.,Kathleen Norris,Paula J. Carlson,Peter S. Hawkins,Carol Bly,Andrew Dubus
Listening for God, Vol. 3
Book 3 of 4 · published 2000 Anthology · Tillie Olsen,Wendell Berry,John Cheever,Louise Erdrich,Mary Gordon,Tess Gallagher,Reynolds Price,Oscar Hijuelos,Paula J. Carlson,Peter S. Hawkins
Listening For God, Vol. 4
Latest in the series · book 4 of 4 · published 2002 Anthology · Robert Olen Butler,Allegra Goodman,James Baldwin,Kent Haruf,SueMiller,Doris Betts,Paula J. Carlson,Peter S. Hawkins,MichaelMalone,Alice Elliot Dark
The Best Short Stories by Black Writers
Series opener · book 1 of 35 · published 1967
First Fiction: An Anthology of the First Published Stories by Famous Writers
Book 17 of 35 · published 1994
The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction
Book 23 of 35 · published 1999
The Eloquent Short Story: An Anthology of Narrative Styles
Book 29 of 35 · published 2004
Letters to Change the World: From Pankhurst to Orwell
Book 34 of 35 · published 2018
On Girlhood: 15 Stories from the Well-Read Black Girl Library
Latest in the series · book 35 of 35 · published 2021
? Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Alice Walker?
Alice Walker is a famous and celebrated American author as well as poet, novelist, activist, and essay and story writer. Born February 9, 1944, in Georgia, Walker has been established as one of the preeminent writers to come out of the United States. Her writing has won her many awards.
Which Alice Walker series should I start with?
The best place to start is the Color Purple series, the earliest of Alice Walker's multi-book series: it opens with The Color Purple (1982) and runs to 3 books across 1982–1992, ending with Possessing the Secret of Joy (1992).
How many books has Alice Walker written?
Alice Walker has 106 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1967 and 2021. 24 of them belong to 3 named series — the largest being the Color Purple series with 3 books — and 82 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.
In what order should Alice Walker's series be read?
Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Alice Walker's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Color Purple (1982–1992, 3 books).
How are Alice Walker's books organised into series?
This guide splits Alice Walker's 106 books into 3 named series and 82 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Color Purple (3 books, 1982–1992); Selected Shorts (17 books, 1993–2012); Contemporary Literature and the Life of Faith (4 books, 1994–2002).