The Open Road Blog

In 1996, the Academy of American Poets dubbed April National Poetry Month, creating what it calls “the largest literary celebration in the world, [uniting] publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools, and poets in a celebration of poetry and its vital place in American culture.”

In honor of National Poetry Month, Open Road Media asked authors about the significance of poetry in their writings and lives—and received a range of enthusiastic, thoughtful responses.

Some writers, like Alice Walker, are themselves published poets and teachers of poetry (Once, Revolutionary Petunias, Horses Make a Landscape Look More Beautiful), ...

Your favorite show was on television. You had to walk the dog. You read the Cliff's Notes (or the review in the New York Times) and got the gist. And somehow, you never managed to actually read the book.

But when someone asks you about Bestseller X or Classic Novel Y at a dinner party, you fumble your way through the conversation and nod knowingly, right?

We consider ourselves smart, moderately well read folks. We’ve all got books that we meant to read—but just haven't gotten around to yet. We’ve got the best of intentions, but somehow there are ...

The photograph shows author Alice Walker being arrested and taken into custody during a protest in Concord, California in the 1980s, against weapons shipments being sent to Central and South America. Her shirt “Remember Port Chicago,” refers to an explosion during World War II that killed mostly black sailors, which occurred while the sailors were loading munitions.

Born the youngest of eight children, Alice Walker was raised by parents who believed in the power of education, despite being a family of black sharecroppers in the South. After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College in 1956, she moved back to the South, ...

According to the Midcontinent Public Library and Based on the Book, more than 1,200 books, novels, short stories, and plays have been made into English language feature films—and that's just since 1980! In fact, all but two of this year's Academy Award Best Picture nominees are based on books including The Descendants, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Help, Hugo, Moneyball, and War Horse.  

Of course it's no secret that Hollywood producers and bestselling authors don't always see eye-to-eye when it comes to writing the all-important screenplay adaptation; but with patience, respect, and determination, success—and maybe ...

Black History Month reflects on, celebrates and honors the African-American experience. Everywhere you look, black culture, talent, and political efforts have played an enormous role in shaping America's past and present.

African Americans have  revered good stories and storytellers. The story-telling history of Africa is rich and varied, and it remains a living tradition that continues to evolve and flourish in the diaspora today. "How many of us really know about the truly great civilizations of Africa, in their days as glorious and resplendent as any on the face of the earth?" asks Henry Louis Gates Jr., educator, author, ...

“I couldn’t not be a part of the movement,” says Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple, about her involvement in the civil rights struggle. “The whole South was in an uproar because we were trying to change the very system that my parents and grandparents and great-grandparents had suffered under.” 

To mark the national celebration of the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., we interviewed writers—and their friends, family, and colleagues—about their experiences during the civil rights movement.

Walker speaks about the problems faced by students participating in the movement, while Arnold Adoff, husband of the late ...

“Alice Walker is a lavishly gifted writer.” —The New York Times Book Review

Open Road Integrated Media announces the ebook publication of nine titles by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker, including novels The Third Life of Grange Copeland and Meridian; poetry collections Revolutionary Petunias, Horses Make a Landscape Look More Beautiful, and Once; short story collections You Can’t Keep a Good Woman Down and In Love & Trouble; and essay collections Living by the Word and In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens. The titles join three novels published by Open Road Media in ...

Iconic Ebooks Are Titles That Are Entrenched in Popular Culture
and Are Now Being Introduced to a New Generation of Readers Digitally

(October 18, 2011) Open Road Integrated Media, a digital publisher and multimedia content company, announced today that it will digitally publish and market Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying, the groundbreaking international bestseller that revolutionized female sexuality, as an ebook throughout the world in the English language. Fear of Flying will be the first title in Open Road's new Iconic Ebooks imprint. The ebook, with a new cover and an illustrated biography featuring never-before-seen photos, goes on sale today....

(New York, NY: Friday, October 7, 2011) BookMovement, a website dedicated to supporting and connecting book clubs, and Open Road Integrated Media, a digital publisher and multimedia content company, have partnered to launch an ebook club featuring titles from authors like Alice Walker, Natalie Goldberg, Pat Conroy, and Josephine Hart. Through BookMovement.com, readers will be ...

Today for Banned Books Week we are proud to share an excerpt from The Color Purple, which was recently released for the first time as an ebook. Alice Walker's elegant, deeply felt epistolary novel about a young black woman's coming-of-age in the segregated south, ignited tremendous controversy almost immediately after its release in 1982. Many felt that Walker's novel presented an unfair portrayal of men and were disturbed by the novel's take on female sexuality and friendship. A frequently assigned text in AP English, The Color Purple has been challenged in a number of school districts, including Oakland, CA, ...

“The Color Purple is an American novel of permanent importance.” —Newsweek

Open Road Integrated Media announces the ebook publication of three titles by celebrated author Alice Walker, including her novel The Color Purple, which won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, and was subsequently adapted into an Academy Award­–nominated film starring Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover. Walker is known for her deep and unflinching explorations of black life in America, particularly the experiences of black women. In her public life, Walker has worked to address problems of injustice, inequality, and poverty as an activist, ...

It is with great pleasure that we share this week's featured except from Mama Ruby. In Mama Ruby, New York Times bestselling author Mary Monroe presents an unforgettable tale featuring Mama Ruby, the indomitable heroine of her acclaimed novel The Upper Room. Now readers will get a peek into Ruby’s early years, as she transforms from a spoiled small-town girl into one of the South’s most notorious and volatile women. Click here for the previous Excerpt of the Week from Ira Levin's This Perfect Day.

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Chapter One

Shreveport, Louisiana, 1934

Nobody ever had to ...