The Color Purple with Maya Williams

This Queer Book Saved My Life

My eighth grade brain was like: they're such great friends AND they kiss on the mouth?! That's great!
Today we meet Maya Williams and we’re talking about the book that saved their life: The Color Purple by Alice Walker.
Maya Williams (ey/em, they/them, and she/her) is a religious Black multiracial nonbinary suicide survivor who is currently an Ashley Bryan Fellow and the seventh Poet Laureate of Portland, Maine .
​Maya's debut poetry collection, Judas & Suicide, is available through Game Over Books . And Maya's second poetry collection, Refused a Second Date, is available now through Harbor Editions.
A powerful cultural touchstone of modern American literature, The Color Purple depicts the lives of African American women in early-twentieth-century rural Georgia. Through a series of letters spanning nearly thirty years, first from Celie to God, then from the sisters to each other, the novel draws readers into a rich and memorable portrayal of Black women--their pain and struggle, companionship and growth, resilience and bravery.
Connect with Maya
Website: mayawilliamspoet.com
Instagram: @emmdubb16
Twitter: @emmdubb16

Our Bookshop
Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
To purchase The Color Purple visit: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9780143135692.
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Credits
Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian
Executive Producer: Jim Pounds
Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Nicole Olila, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith
Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard.
Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
Permission to use audio from the Kennedy Center Arts Across America - Maya Williams 'Definitions of Home' provided by Maya Williams.
Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music
Quatrefoil Library
Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can't buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1
As we shield ourselves for the next four years, please consider attending the Creating Change conference. It will be in Las Vegas from January 22-26, 2025. It is the largest LGBTQ conference in the United States. Registration fees are sliding scale to keep it affordable, with free registration if you sign-up to volunteer. Learn more: thetaskforce.org

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