Once

By Alice Walker

Categories: Literature & Fiction

Alice Walker's first book, published in 1968, is a collection of poems drawn from her experiences as a student and as a young civil rights worker. Many were written after a trip to East Africa and during a difficult period at Sarah Lawrence College, and others reflect on voter registration campaigns in the South, love, suicide and death. The short, spare poems announced a major new voice in American literature.

Recommended by 1 person

• Hillary Clinton: “I will read anything by Laura Hillenbrand, Walter Isaacson, Barbara Kingsolver, John le Carré, John Grisham, Hilary Mantel, Toni Morrison, Anna Quindlen and Alice Walker.”