A poetry collection of “playful and crooning lyricism” from the National Book Award– and Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Color Purple ( Booklist ).   In this dazzling new collection, Alice Walker offers over sixty new poems to incite and nurture contemporary activists. Hailed as a “lavishly gifted writer,” Walker imbues her poetry with evocative images, fresh language, anger, forgiveness, and profound wisdom ( The New York Times ).   Casting her eye toward history, politics, and nature, as well as to world figures such as Jimmy Carter, Gloria Steinem, and the Dalai Lama, she “distills struggles, crises, and tragedies down to bright, singing lessons in living with awareness and joy” ( Booklist ).   By attentively chronicling the conditions of human life today, Walker shows, as ever, her deep compassion, profound spirituality, and necessary political commitments. The poems in The World Will Follow Joy remind us of our human capacity to come together and take action, even in our troubled political times. “Her spirituality, concern for human rights, and almost old-fashioned, determined joyousness run deep and her devoted readers will want to follow her as she turns ‘madness into flowers’” ( Library Journal ). Walker knows that this sparkling poetry collection’s central vision of a peaceful, joyful future in which we forswear war and the plundering of the planet will seem naive, but she counters: “I believe / with all my heart / in the magic / and the power / of intention.” Having grappled once again with torrents of injustice and suffering in her new essay collection, The Cushion in the Road, this tireless activist has freed her mischievous, sensual, and spiritual poetic self to write of nature, love, friendship, courage, and generosity with playful and crooning lyricism. Sweet praise songs to her musical, handy, salt-of-the-earth lover are matched by warm, incisive tributes to Gloria Steinem, Oprah, Gabrielle Giffords, Cornel West, and Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. In verse and photographs, Walker tells the story of her “adoption” of an orphanage in Kenya for children who lost their parents to AIDS, a project bolstered by her receiving the Lennon Ono Grant for Peace. In her nimble poems of celebration, Walker distills struggles, crises, and tragedies down to bright, singing lessons in living with awareness and joy. --Donna Seaman Praise for The World Will Follow Joy : “This tireless activist has freed her mischievous, sensual, and spiritual poetic self to write of nature, love, friendship, courage, and generosity with playful and crooning lyricism. . . . Walker distills struggles, crises, and tragedies down to bright, singing lessons in living with awareness and joy.” ― Booklist Praise for Alice Walker : "Alice Walker is a muse for our times . . . she touches the soul, and propels us to action." ―Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now! "A lavishly gifted writer." ― The New York Times Alice Walker is one of the most prolific writers of our time, known for her literary fiction, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Color Purple ; her many volumes of poetry; and her powerful nonfiction collections, including We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For and The Chicken Chronicles: A Memoir (both published by The New Press). Her advocacy for the dispossessed has spanned the globe. She lives in Northern California.