Mindful poems about tolerance, justice and hope for the future, by Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Color Purple.

Alice Walker, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning modern classic The Color Purple, returns with a poetry collection that is both playfully imaginative and intensely moving.

In Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart, Alice Walker examines our troubled times, while also chronicling a life well-lived. From poems of painful self-inquiry, to celebrating the simple beauty of everyday life, Walker offers us a window into her magical, at times difficult, and liberating world of activism, love, hope and, above all, gratitude.

Whether she’s urging us to preserve an urban paradise or behold exploring the necessity of beauty to the spirit, Walker demonstrates that she remains a revolutionary poet and an inspiration to generations of fans.

Listen to Alice Walker reading her poem ‘Mother of Trees’:

‘[A] strong addition to her mulitgenre literary canon. Walker offers the prodding wisdom of an elder suggesting that we can cope by taking comfort in beauty, friendship, and human kindness; by always expressing gratitude; and by turning inward to hold ourselves accountable for what we contribute.’
– Booklist, Starred Review

‘Walker forthrightly addresses our despair while ultimately offering poems of love and hope for all readers.’
– Library Journal

‘The [poetry] collection is moving and timely, and highlights the still-raw trauma from our nation’s recent past.’
– Vanity Fair

‘A book that meditates on these contentious times, but also on life, love, hope, and gratitude, it’s just what our literary souls were aching for.’
-Marie Claire

About the author

A prolific writer in multiple genres, Alice Walker has become a canonical figure in American letters. Her writings have been translated into more than two dozen languages, and more than twelve million copies of her books have been sold.

In 1983, Walker became the first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for fiction with her novel The Color Purple, which also won the National Book Award. Her other books include The Third Life of Grange Copeland, Meridian, The Temple of My Familiar, and Possessing the Secret of Joy. In her public life, Walker has worked to address problems of injustice, inequality, and poverty as an activist, teacher, and public intellectual.

Categories Fiction International

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