The Enduring Power The Color Purple

It has captivated audiences as a novel, a movie, and a Broadway musical. On the eve of its latest incarnation, a sweeping musical feature film out on Christmas Day, we celebrate Alice Walker's universal saga of resilience and redemption with behind-the-scenes stories from the new book Purple Rising.

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The 1982 Novel
Discovering the story on the page.

OPRAH WINFREY (Sofia in the 1985 film; producer on the 2005 Broadway musical, the 2015 Broadway revival, and the 2023 film): I was obsessed from the moment in 1982 when I read the New York Times review of the novel. I got out of bed, went to get the book at the bookstore around the corner from me, came home, and read it straight through. When I read those first lines, "Dear God, I am fourteen years old," I thought, How does Alice Walker know about my life? I was moved by the story because at 14 years old, I became pregnant and had to hide it, and the baby died. But I also knew that if I had been so moved by the story, at least a million other people would also have this feeling.

I was still in Baltimore then, doing a talk show. We probably tried to have her on, but Alice Walker wasn't coming to Baltimore for a local talk show. There was no way to have that conversation. Instead, I was trying to force the conversation with other people one-on-one, literally one-on-one: "You need to read this." If I could have put on a sandwich board and gone out into the street, I would've.