On Wednesday, April 20 and Thursday, April 21, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and poet Alice Walker and acclaimed filmmaker Pratibha Parmar will participate in a series of events as part of the U’s Barbara L. & Norman C. Tanner Center for Nonviolent Human Rights Advocacy’s “Artists as Advocates: Women’s Rights and Human Rights” series. All events are free and open to the public.
Walker, best known as the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Color Purple,” grew up during the era of segregation, which inspired much of her later work after graduating from Sarah Lawrence College. Walker was active in the civil rights movement and worked as a social worker, teacher and lecturer before her work gained critical acclaim in the 1980s.
“Alice Walker’s life and work embody the connection we are examining between art and human rights advocacy. Issues of discrimination and marginalization are illuminated in her fiction and poetry, and in her daily life she engages in advocacy on a wide variety of issues. Similarly, Parmar’s filmmaking illustrates the ability of an artist, through her craft, to promote empathy and insight around very challenging subjects,” said Thomas Maloney, director of the Tanner Center for Nonviolent Human Rights Advocacy.
Parmar is a filmmaker whose work focuses on telling stories surrounding race, sexuality and feminism. “Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth” is her most recent feature documentary film and chronicles Walker’s life from the cotton fields of Georgia to becoming the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize.
Parmar has won a number of awards, including the One in Ten Visionary Award, the Pink Peacock Award and the Frameline Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award.
Schedule of events:
April 20, 2016
7-9 p.m.
Screening of “Beauty in Truth” and discussion with Walker and Parmar
Rose Wagner Performing Arts Theater
April 21, 2016
12 p.m.
Screening of “Warrior Marks” and discussion with Parmar
Law School Moot Courtroom
7 p.m.
A reading with Walker and discussion with Walker and Parmar
Rice-Eccles Stadium Scholarship Room
Book signing hosted by King’s English of Salt Lake City to follow.
The screening of Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth is part of the “Through the Lens” series, a collaboration between KUER and the Utah Film Center.
The Barbara L. & Norman C. Tanner Center for Nonviolent Human Rights Advocacy is dedicated to providing U students, faculty and the broader community with the inspiration and education needed to become advocates for peace, nonviolence and human rights.
Founded in 2006, the center is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. For more information on the center’s other programming and to learn about opportunities to support the center’s work, go to humanrights.utah.edu.
