On April 12, the personal journals of Alice Walker — Georgia native, literary revolutionist and the first-ever Black woman to receive a Pulitzer Prize in fiction — will be released to the public. 

Walker chose a University of Georgia professor  to work with her to publish “Gathering Blossoms Under Fire: The Journals of Alice Walker,” a professor who did not live to see the book come to market, or to enjoy the latest accolade she earned from her own critically acclaimed novel, “Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston.” 

 Why It’s Newsworthy: Valerie Boyd died in February of 2022. This coming November, The Georgia Writers Hall of Fame will induct her into this prestigious society of authors. As the Charlayne Hunter-Gault Distinguished Writer in Residence, Boyd taught critical writing at the University of Georgia, founded a Master of Fine Arts program at UGA, and directed the Giving Voice to the Voiceless grant program created by Hunter-Gault and her husband, Ron Gault. Grady Newsource reporter Erin Wasserman introduces you to the woman who dedicated her life to making a change in the literary world for people of color. A woman whose presence changed lives and gave voice to the voiceless.  

Erin Wasserman is a senior studying journalism within Grady College at the University of Georgia.