Alice Malsenior Tallulah-Kate Walker (born February 9, 1944, in Eatonton, Georgia) is an American novelist, poet, feminist, civil rights activist, and womanist. She grew up as the youngest of eight children in a family of sharecroppers during segregation in the rural South, overcoming childhood poverty, racism, and a partial blindness from an injury that later influenced her writing. After excelling academically as her high school valedictorian, she attended Spelman College briefly before graduating from Sarah Lawrence College in 1965, becoming one of the few African American women to do so at the time. She moved to Mississippi after college, working as a teacher and activist in the Civil Rights Movement while launching her literary career with her first poetry collection, Once (1968). Walker is best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple (1982), which made her the first African-American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The novel, adapted into a film and Broadway musical, explores themes of racism, sexism, and resilience through the life of an abused Black woman in the early 20th-century South. Over her career, she has published seventeen novels and short story collections, twelve non-fiction works, poetry, and essays, blending feminist perspectives with African American experiences. A prominent feminist and social activist, Walker coined the term 'womanism' to describe a Black-centered feminism addressing intersections of race, gender, and class. She has been involved in causes including anti-apartheid efforts, environmentalism, and Palestinian rights, and has taught at universities while writing on healing, spirituality, and family traditions. Her work has influenced generations of writers and activists, solidifying her legacy as a key figure in American literature and social justice.