Rebecca Walker is a bestselling author and speaker who has contributed to the global conversation about identity, power, and the pressing need for human evolution for over fifteen years. Her books include To Be Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Face of Feminism, Black, White, and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self, What Makes a Man: 22 Writers Imagine the Future, and Baby Love: Choosing Motherhood After a Lifetime of Ambivalence.

Rebecca has lectured at over five hundred universities including Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and Smith, and addressed dozens of organizations including JP Morgan Chase, Sony Music, Microsoft, and The Ministry of Gender and Culture in Estonia at the first ever conference on masculinity in the Baltics. Her essays, articles, commentaries and reviews can be seen in Harper's, Marie Claire, BookForum, Babble, Essence, Glamour, Self, Buddhadharma, Interview, and many other blogs, magazines and anthologies.

Rebecca consults with authors on manuscript development and placement, and teaches the art of memoir at MFA programs and workshops around the world.

Blog Entries by Rebecca Walker

This Writer's Life: Why Write Memoir When Fiction is So Much More Respectable?

Posted November 4, 2009 | 01:55 PM (EST)


This Writer's Life is a blog about writing in the swirling free-fall of the publishing industry. I'll cover everything that comes across my radar in the world of writing and publishing--from inside chatter from my conversations with publishers and editors, to commentary from my favorite book lovers on Twitter. I'll...

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The Untouchable Michael Jackson

39 Comments | Posted July 11, 2009 | 05:13 PM (EST)


I met Michael Jackson in 1984. We were both guests of Quincy Jones and Steven Spielberg at Amblin, Spielberg's production company on the Universal film lot. Whoopi Goldberg was preparing to play Celie, the protagonist in the film version of The Color Purple, a book written by my mother, and...

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The Power of Palin

Posted September 22, 2008 | 03:47 PM (EST)


Sarah Palin became mayor of her town, governor of her state, and has now secured the Vice Presidential nomination for the Republican Party of her country. She accomplished this using the basic doctrine of feminism: female empowerment.

Many feminists are now trying to distance themselves from the result of...

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Me and Anonymous: A Conversation

10 Comments | Posted March 25, 2008 | 11:54 AM (EST)


Here's a note that came in on my blog from "Anonymous" today, and my response.

Anonymous: I disagree with your assessment of this election. I think you are really diminishing how much of a threat Hillary is to the male power structure in America. I have never seen the media...

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My Take

84 Comments | Posted March 23, 2008 | 03:18 PM (EST)


I've been trying not to write about The Speech, but since a billion trillion people have asked for my take, I decided to offer it up:

I read the speech transcript because I couldn't bear to watch pundits with as much courage as Obama has in one thumbnail rip it...

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Feminist Infighting

Posted March 1, 2008 | 11:48 AM (EST)


There is a lot of discussion about "feminist in-fighting" of late, spurred by the election. Jessica Valenti of Feministing.com is doing a piece on the subject for The Nation. Here is my response to her query:

1. The fact is there have always been many "feminisms," but one dominant,...

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The Fence

Posted January 14, 2008 | 09:43 AM (EST)


As a bi-racial, Ivy-League educated, thirty-something feminist who campaigned for Bill Clinton, the election has me squarely on the fence. I love Barack's vision and know intimately the mosaic of ideas and experiences that helped shape it. I also feel a profound loyalty to Hillary who, after much sacrifice, has...

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My Mother/Myself

Posted May 14, 2007 | 05:12 PM (EST)


When I got the email from my publicist asking for a blog post about mother daughter relationships, I immediately got a headache. Haven't I said enough, written enough, suffered enough? My partner laughed. You asked for it, he said. Now get writing. I dragged myself to the computer, head bowed....

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