About 150 people got to visit with Alice Walker as she launched her new book during an event at the Plaza Arts Center on April 12.
Walker and her friend, Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall, discussed the book via Zoom. Many in the audience also attended via Zoom, and approximately 50 people attended in-person in the Plaza’s auditorium.
“I was disappointed and worried about it being on Zoom, but it was very intimate and was absolutely amazing,” said Stephanie Roberts, of Milledgeville who attended at the Plaza.
“She gives such a sense of peace about life; I can’t wait to read her book now after hearing her,” added Shannon Davis, also of Milledgeville.
The event was hosted by the Georgia Writers Museum as one of its “Meet the Author” events.
“We have a lot of hometown support in the room tonight,” GWM Executive Director Melissa Swindell said in her opening remarks. “And with the power of Zoom, friends from across Georgia are joining us, along with guests from 15 states, Canada and Puerto Rico.”
The Eatonton native renowned author’s newest book is “Gathering Blossoms Under Fire – the Journals of Alice Walker.” Walker was interviewed by her close friend, Guy-Shetfall, who is a professor at Spelman College in Atlanta, where Walker attended school.
“Tell us about your decision to keep journals, going back to when you were 17, and how you had the courage to share the most intimate, passionate, loving, sad portrait of (yourself),” Shetfall said to Walker.
“I totally embrace my humanity,” Walker replied. “This is what a human being is; this is how we operate; this is what we feel; this is how we love; this is how we discover. And if you look at any of the lives on this planet, you’ll find that’s very much what’s happening with most people. If they’re living their lives with any kind of freedom, they’re having these experiences. And they’re fine. We’re just like anything else in nature, being ourselves.”
The hour-long interview included frank discussion of the period in which both women grew up and Walker’s experiences of being a Black woman in the South during the Civil Rights movement in the ’60s, and the experience of meeting positive white people after she went to college.
“I’ve been very fortunate to have met the kind of people who kept my heart open,” she said when Shetfall asked of Spelman professor Howard Zinn. “Because in the South in those days, I didn’t know about any good white men. I thought Santa Claus and Jesus covered the whole thing. They were the only ones you could let in your house without breaking it or burning it down. So Howie was the first human white person, man or woman, that I ever met who I learned to trust.”
Many topics were discussed including Walker’s romances, recently-watched movies and recently-read books, her travels, how she overcame obstacles in her life, her philosophies, and people who influenced her.
The book, which was edited by the late Valerie Boyd, contains Walker’s journal entries and provides an intimate view of the Pulitzer-Prize-winning author’s personal, professional and passionate thoughts from 1965 to 2000.
Before the interview began, a moment of silence was held for Boyd, who was Walker’s longtime friend and editor and who died of pancreatic cancer two months before the release of the book.
“I miss her so much, she was so staunch, so brave, so funny,” Walker said of Boyd. “She was just someone who is irreplaceable in every way, you know, my friend, my sister, my colleague. Valerie and I showed up for each other, she was there, and that is such a comfort. There are slings and arrows a plenty all along the way, but you have one good sister who sees you, who understands you, and really just is with you. There is no greater gift than that one sister who is going to be there through thick and thin. And this is what I felt through our friendship, so I miss her and will always miss her.”
After the moment of silence, Ariel Smith, a seventh-grade student at Hancock Central Middle School, read her essay, “How Does Alice Walker Influence Me?” which she wrote during Black History Month.
“She has inspired me to step out of my comfort zone; to explore; and live life to the fullest,” she read.
After the interview, Walker answered questions from members of both audiences. Then a champagne toast and cake cutting ceremony celebrated the launch of the book.