The Rachel Corrie Foundation is excited to announce our annual Peace Works event, a conference titled Solidarity in Action, set for April 8-9, 2011. We are delighted to feature Pulitzer Prize winning author and poet Alice Walker as keynote speaker. Walker will speak on “The Writer/Poet as Activist,” Friday, April 8, 7:30 pm, at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Olympia.
I invite you and your students to join us for this rare opportunity to hear from one of America's most esteemed writers, and I encourage you to include Alice Walker’s writing in your spring curriculum. An accomplished and prolific author, Walker is known for her poetry, short stories, novels, and essays and for her work as a feminist and activist, as well. Her writing has been translated into more than two dozen languages, and she is recipient of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Her novel The Color Purple (1982) -- the story of two sisters who remain loyal to one another across time, distance, and silence -- is now an American classic.
Walker recently published a short book entitled Overcoming Speechlessness (2010), a personal reflection of her travels through Rwanda, the Eastern Congo and Palestine. In it, she recounts personal, heart-wrenching stories of occupation and crimes against humanity, but, also, of human resilience and her own struggle to overcome the silence that follows the witness of unspeakable acts. The book examines Walker's lifetime of writing and activism, from her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement and South Africa’s Anti-Apartheid struggle, to the current situation in Palestine/Israel. The author's other recent books include Hard Times Require Furious Dancing (poetry, 2010), The World has Changed: Conversations with Alice Walker (interviews from 1973-2006), and We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For: Inner Light in a Time of Darkness (talks, essays, poems, prose, 2007).
I hope your spring program may benefit from integrating some of Alice Walker’s work and that you and your students may take advantage of the special opportunity to hear from her in person April 8th in Olympia. Group tickets can be reserved through the Washington Center for the Performing Arts for $12.50 per student. http://www.washingtoncenter.org/upcoming-events/2011/4/8/alice-walker-the-poetwriter-as-activist.html
For more information about Alice Walker, please visit: http://alicewalkersgarden.com/
You and your students are invited to attend our entire Peace Works 2011 conference: Solidarity in Action -- two exciting days of networking, panels, and workshops at The Evergreen State College. Panelists will address the current situation in Israel/Palestine and strategies for justice and peace, the growing international campaigns for BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions), and cross movement building. Local and national organizers will facilitate workshops to educate, motivate, and provide tools for community organizing. The Olympia-Rafah Solidarity Mural Project will present the next phase of its downtown Olympia mural, one of the city’s most beautiful and successful collaborative projects.
For Peace Works schedule and registration information, please go to: http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/peaceworks/pw2011
If you know of campus organizations or student groups that might be interested in supporting or attending these events, please forward this information. Conference co-sponsorship and tabling opportunities are available, and information is at our website http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/
Thank you for your time. If you have questions or are interested in more information about Peace Works 2011, please visit the Rachel Corrie Foundation website and, also, feel free to contact me.
Thank you,
Maya Harris
Community Development and Educational Outreach Intern
Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace & Justice
Maya@rachelcorriefoundation.org
360-754-3998
