Culture Surfing

Alice Walker, Pearl Cleage, and the Indigo Girls will perform on November 6 at the Hillside International Truth Center

Tonight marks the beginning of two events that will take over Atlanta’s literary scene for the rest of the week. The Atlanta Queer Lit Fest and a celebration of Charis Books’ 35th Anniversary will get started tonight with a shared event at the feminist, Little Five Points bookstore. AQLF is sponsoring a huge spread of events including readings from Staceyann Chin and Manil Suri as well as a full day of workshops at the Decatur Library. The anniversary events for Charis have snagged some big names, including Gloria Steinem and Alice Walker.

Full schedule and details after the jump.

Continue reading “Atlanta Queer Lit Fest and Charis Books 35th kick off tonight” »

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1. @heywritemybookforme (Is a book really a book if it’s made up of Twitter posts? NYT columnist David Pogue seems to think so.)

2. The Lazy Reader’s Guide to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (It takes brains to hold firm in the no. 2 spot week after week — er something like that. Sorry, I’m starting to run out of cute one-liners after three weeks on the list.)

3. 5 things to do today: Saturday (Inman Park Festival, Bangkok Fight Night, the Atlanta Film Fest’s closing night … how to choose?!)

4. TIE! The Televangelist: ‘Lost’ episode 13 (Y’all still needed a ‘Lost’ fix after last week’s rerun. You really are addicted aren’t you?) AND “Caprica” provides intriguing “Battlestar” backstory (Sci-fi thrills, frills and automobiles.)

5. Alice Walker sews and tells (The Color Purple author’s archive opened at Emory last week, and you were invited to celebrate with Walker, Gloria Steinem and Howard Zinn, among others.)

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1) Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris continues at the Alliance Theatre.

2) Smokin’ Joe Kubec and Bnois King perform at Blind Willie’s.

3) Several Dancer’s Core production THREE opens at 7 Stages.

Continue reading “5 things to do: Friday”

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GLOBAL WARMING: The Color Purple and its accompanying quilt

Author and activist Alice Walker has long championed the quilt. For the narrator of her story “Everyday Use,” quilts aren’t simply objects of beauty and handiwork, but industrious articles meant to be used as well as learned from. Walker’s writing has reinforced the symbol of handmade blankets in American history, calling attention to the ways culture and tradition have passed through the hands of women. When Emory University opens the Alice Walker Archive to the public Thurs., April 23, with the exhibit A Keeping of Records: The Art and Life of Alice Walker, the center of attention will likely be a quilt Walker made nearly 30 years ago while writing The Color Purple.

Emory first acquired the archive from Walker in 2007. It’s a massive collection of documents and ephemera that encompasses almost all of the author’s life. Included are drafts of every manuscript, along with letters, photographs, and a scrapbook she started keeping as a teenager. “It is evidence of Walker’s belief and self-awareness that she would become an important American writer,” curator Rudolph P. Byrd has said of the collection. A Keeping of Records will showcase 200 of the archive’s items.

Continue reading “Alice Walker sews and tells”

(Photo courtesy Emory University Photography)

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