The World Will Follow Joy

Turning Madness into Flowers (New Poems)

A dazzling collection of new poems from the Pulitzer Prize winner

“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

“Poetry is leading us,” writes Alice Walker in The World Will Follow Joy. In this luminous collection—a bestseller in hardcover—the beloved writer offers sixty poems to inspire and incite. Penetrating and sensitive, playful and wise, these intensely intimate poems establish a personal connection of rare immediacy between poet and reader, illustrating the very qualities that have won her a devoted following and continue to draw new readers to her writing.

Attentively chronicling the conditions of human life today, Walker shows in her poetry her necessary political commitments, her compassion, and her spirituality. 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 is indeed a “muse for our times” (Amy Goodman).

The World Will Follow Joy reminds us of our human capacity to come together and take action. Above all, the gems in this collection illuminate what it means to live in our world today.

Praise

“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

News and Reviews

Maya Angelou was an indomitable spirit of great generosity, kindness, and love.

Democracy Now!

Amy Goodman interviews Alice Walker on Democracy Now!

Chicago Sun-Times

Alice Walker is interviewed in the Chicago Sun-Times

Books by Alice Walker

The Cushion in the Road
Meditation and Wandering as the Whole World Awakens to Being in Harm’s Way

Alice Walker

The World Has Changed
Conversations with Alice Walker

Alice Walker, Rudolph P. Byrd

Possessing the Secret of Joy
A Novel

Alice Walker

We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For
Inner Light in a Time of Darkness

Alice Walker

Goodreads Reviews