She is one of the most gifted writers in her country

THE COLOR PURPLE is a work to stand beside literature for any time and any place. It needs no category other than the fact that it is superb

The Color Purple is a lush celebration of all that it means to be female, to be a black female and like the best of celebrations, it is an honest one. Alice Walker’s honesty in this book is combative, relentless and redemptive. It is from this honesty that bitterness emerges, and yet the bitterness never blights the encompassing humanity of Walker’s vision.I love that The Color Purple doesn’t try to soften its blows but is also courageous enough to hold on to a wonderfully affirming faith in possibility, in forgiveness and kindness and hope.

The great irony about The Color Purple is that it transcends colour. To do that you have to be a magician or a genius. This book works on all levels, the political, the historical, the personal, the emotional, the spiritual … Not a word is wasted, every breath accounted for. We all know that this is one of the greatest books of all time.

Alice Walker is a lavishly gifted writer - New York Times