Press Releases

Alice Walker to Speak at Naropa University Commencement
“The Color Purple” author also known for her activism

BOULDER, Colo. (March 13, 2007)—Naropa University’s commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 12, 2007, will feature a speech by internationally revered author Alice Walker. Commencement will take place at 1 p.m. in Macky Auditorium at the University of Colorado-Boulder.

Walker won the Pulitzer Prize as well as the National Book Award for her third novel, The Color Purple, which was made into an internationally popular film and is now a Broadway musical.  Her other best-selling novels, which have been translated into more than two dozen languages, include By the Light of My Father’s Smile, Possessing the Secret of Joy and The Temple of My Familiar. Her most recent fiction work, Now is the Time to Open Your Heart was published in 2004. 

Walker is also the author of several collections of short stories, essays and poems as well as children’s books. Her most recent children’s book, There is a Flower At The Tip of My Nose Smelling Me, came out in the spring of 2006. Her work has also appeared in numerous national and international journals and magazines. An activist and social visionary, Walker has been a participant in many of the major movements of planetary change in the last half-century.

Accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, Naropa University is a private, nonprofit, nonsectarian liberal arts institution dedicated to advancing contemplative education. This approach to learning integrates the best of Eastern and Western educational traditions, helping students know themselves more deeply and engage constructively with others. The university comprises a four-year undergraduate college and graduate programs in the arts, education, environmental leadership, psychology and religious studies.

###

Naropa University Commencement 2007
Mackey Hall at University of Colorado-Boulder
Saturday, May 12, 2007, 1 p.m.