Order of Book Series
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Alice Walker Books in Order

Alice Walker has written 50 books, published between 1970 and 2021. The first book is The Third Life of Grange Copeland (1970) and the newest is Sweet People Are Everywhere (2021). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
50
Published
1970–2021
Pages on record
7,412 in 35 of 50 books
Reading time
124–185 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 7,412 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 35 of 50 titles with a page count on record.

See all 50 books in order Printable Alice Walker checklist
Photo of Alice Walker, author of the Color Purple series

Alice Walker is an American novelist, poet, short story writer and social activist. Walker's 50 catalogued books run from The Third Life of Grange Copeland (1970) to Sweet People Are Everywhere (2021). The Color Purple (1982) won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, making Walker the first African-American woman to take that award, and it heads a Color Purple sequence. Poetry such as Revolutionary Petunias (1973) and essays such as In Search of Our Mother's Garden (1983) sit beside the novels. African American women authors, biography and poetry recur as subject headings. No new title has appeared since 2021.

How many Alice Walker books are there?

Alice Walker has 50 books, released between 1970 and 2021. 3 of them belong to the Color Purple series.

Alice Walker Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 50 Alice Walker books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.

  1. Cover of The Third Life of Grange Copeland by Alice Walker (1970)
  2. Cover of Meridian by Alice Walker (1976)
  3. Cover of Good Night, Willie Lee, I'll See You in the Morning by Alice Walker (1979)
  4. Cover of You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down by Alice Walker (1981)
  5. Cover of The Color Purple by Alice Walker, book 1 of the Color Purple series (1982)
  6. Cover of In Search of Our Mother's Garden by Alice Walker (1983)
  7. Cover of Langston Hughes by Alice Walker (1987)
  8. Cover of To Hell with Dying by Alice Walker (1988)
  9. Cover of Living by the Word by Alice Walker (1988)
  10. Cover of The Temple of My Familiar by Alice Walker, book 2 of the Color Purple series (1989)
  11. Cover of Finding the Green Stone by Alice Walker (1991)
  12. Cover of Her Blue Body Everything We Know by Alice Walker (1991)
  13. Cover of Everyday Use by Alice Walker (1992)
  14. Cover of Warrior Marks by Alice Walker (1993)
  15. Cover of Giving Birth, Finding Form by Alice Walker (1993)
  16. Cover of The Complete Stories by Alice Walker (1994)
  17. Cover of The Same River Twice by Alice Walker (1996)
  18. Cover of Alice Walker Banned by Alice Walker (1996)
  19. Cover of Anything We Love Can Be Saved by Alice Walker (1997)
  20. Cover of Go Girl! by Alice Walker (1997)
  21. Cover of By the Light of My Father's Smile by Alice Walker (1998)
  22. Cover of The Way Forward Is with a Broken Heart by Alice Walker (2000)
  23. Cover of Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth by Alice Walker (2003)
  24. Cover of A Poem Traveled Down My Arm by Alice Walker (2003)
  1. 1
    The Third Life of Grange Copeland1970 · 318 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1970318
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    Revolutionary Petunias1973 · confirmed 1/4
    1973–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    In Love & Trouble1973 · confirmed 1/4
    1973–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    The Life of Thomas Lodge1974 · 23 pages · confirmed 1/4
    197423
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    Meridian1976 · 242 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1976242
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    Once1976 · confirmed 1/4
    1976–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    Good Night, Willie Lee, I'll See You in the Morning1979 · 53 pages · confirmed 1/4
    197953
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 8
    You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down1981 · 167 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1981167
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 9
    The Color PurpleColor Purple #11982 · 288 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1982288
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 10
    In Search of Our Mother's Garden1983 · confirmed 1/4
    1983–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  11. 11
    Horses Make a Landscape Look More Beautiful1985 · confirmed 1/4
    1985–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  12. 12
    Alice Walker Poetry1985 · confirmed 1/4
    1985–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  13. 13
    Art Against Apartheid1986 · 182 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1986182
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  14. 14
    Langston Hughes1987 · 37 pages · confirmed 1/4
    198737
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  15. 15
    To Hell with Dying1988 · 31 pages · confirmed 1/4
    198831
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  16. 16
    Living by the Word1988 · 196 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1988196
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  17. 17
    The Temple of My FamiliarColor Purple #21989 · 416 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1989416
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  18. 18
    Finding the Green Stone1991 · 40 pages · confirmed 1/4
    199140
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  19. 19
    Her Blue Body Everything We Know1991 · 463 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1991463
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  20. 20
    Possessing the Secret of JoyColor Purple #31992 · 286 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1992286
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  21. 21
    Everyday Use1992 · 229 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1992229
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  22. 22
    Warrior Marks1993 · 373 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1993373
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  23. 23
    Giving Birth, Finding Form1993 · confirmed 1/4
    1993–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  24. 24
    The Complete Stories1994 · 304 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1994304
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  25. 25
    The Same River Twice1996 · 302 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1996302
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  26. 26
    Alice Walker Banned1996 · 105 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1996105
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  27. 27
    Anything We Love Can Be Saved1997 · 225 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1997225
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  28. 28
    Go Girl!1997 · 364 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1997364
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  29. 29
    By the Light of My Father's Smile1998 · 222 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1998222
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  30. 30
    Pema Chödrön and Alice Walker in Conversation1999 · confirmed 1/4
    1999–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Alice Walker books grouped by series

Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.

Color Purple in order

3 books
  1. 1. The Color Purple
  2. 2. The Temple of My Familiar
  3. 3. Possessing the Secret of Joy

Standalone books

47 books

47 Alice Walker titles here are not listed as part of any series.

Do you have to read Alice Walker books in order?

You only need to read Alice Walker books in order within the Color Purple series, which holds 3 of the 50 Alice Walker books listed here. The numbered table above gives every book in publication order.

Where to start with Alice Walker

Start with The Third Life of Grange Copeland (1970), the earliest published title.

What is the newest Alice Walker book?

Sweet People Are Everywhere (2021) is the newest Alice Walker book released so far.

Is there a new Alice Walker book coming?

No next Alice Walker book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Awards Alice Walker has won

Wikidata records 6 awards and 1 nomination for Alice Walker. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.

  • Carl Sandburg Literary Award2016Won
  • O. Henry Award1986Won
  • Lillian Smith Book Award1984Wonfor In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens
  • Pulitzer Prize for Fiction1983Wonfor The Color Purple
  • National Book Award1983Wonfor The Color Purple
  • Lillian Smith Book Award1973Won
  • Pulitzer Prize for Fiction1983Shortlistedfor The Color Purple

Alice Walker at a glance

Paused
No new Alice Walker title has appeared for 5 years. The last was published in 2021.
Release pace
Alice Walker books have appeared about one a year on average.
Length
7,412 pages across the 35 of 50 books with a recorded length, a median of 213 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Alice Walker books, 13 of 50, were published in the 1990s.

What the Alice Walker books are about

43 of the 50 Alice Walker books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: african americans is tagged on 12 of 43. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.