Alice Walker

The Color Purple, the novel that would earn Walker the Pulitzer prize and bring her fame beyond her previous books and poetry, also brought fierce criticism from those furious with her portrayal of violent black men. But Walker's work has always been about the experiences and inner lives of black women – she coined the term "womanism" that describes a movement of black feminists who felt ignored by mainstream feminism. The eighth child of sharecroppers, Walker grew up in segregated Georgia. When she married the white Jewish civil rights lawyer Mel Leventhal, they were the first legally married interracial couple in Mississippi, defying threats from the Ku Klux Klan. A longtime activist, she has been a vocal member of the civil rights movement, the anti-nuclear movement, and in recent years has protested against the Iraq war and been part of a mission to deliver aid to Gaza.