In a visit coinciding with the publication of her latest work, Pulitzer Prize- and American Book Award-winning author Alice Walker will give a free public lecture at Carolina on April 14.

"An Evening with Alice Walker" will be at 7:30 p.m. in Hill Hall Auditorium. Walker is visiting campus as a Frey Foundation Distinguished Visiting Professor in the College of Arts & Sciences. Walker's "Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth: New Poems" was published this month.

Discussions feature English professor's book A book by Carolina's Trudier Harris-Lopez, J. Carlyle Sitterson professor of English, will be discussed later this month in Orange County's "One-Book One-Community Project." "Summer Snow" was chosen for the project, which aims to bring together Orange County residents by having them read the same book and then talk about it. The Orange County Human Relations Commission has announced discussion sessions, scheduled for: April 18, 2 p.m., Carrboro Library at McDougle Middle School in Carrboro; April 18, 3 p.m., Chapel Hill Public Library in Chapel Hill; and April 18, 4 p.m., Orange County Public Library in Hillsborough. In "Summer Snow," Harris-Lopez explores her experiences as a black southerner and how they have shaped her into the writer and intellectual she has become. Harris grew up in Tuscaloosa, Ala., in the 1950s and 1960s. Harris-Lopez will appear at each discussion session. For more information, call 245-2250.

"Alice Walker is one of our nation's greatest writers," said William Ferris, Joel Williamson distinguished history professor, adjunct professor in the folklore curriculum and senior associate director of the Center for the Study of the American South. "Through her poetry, novels, short stories and literary essays, she chronicles the experience of blacks and women in the South with special power. She is the perfect voice to help our students and the Chapel Hill community better understand the worlds in which we live."

Walker won the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award for "The Color Purple," which was on "The New York Times" best-seller list for more than a year. When Steven Spielberg made the novel into a film, it received 11 Academy Award nominations, including one for best picture.

Walker has written six novels, three short story collections, six books of poetry and several children's books. In all, her books have sold more than 10 million copies and have been translated into more than two dozen languages.

She has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Rosenthal Award for Fiction, the Lillian Smith Award and the Radcliffe Medal, among other honors.

She has had guest lectureships and appointments at Wellesley College, the University of Massachusetts, Brown University, Sarah Lawrence College and the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. She has been Fannie Hurst Professor at Brandeis University, Distinguished Writer in African-American Studies at the University of California at Berkeley and associate professor of English at Yale University. While on campus, Walker will hold a seminar for students in an honors creative writing class.

The Frey Foundation professorship was established in 1989 to bring to campus leaders from a variety of fields, including government, public policy and the arts. Edward J. and Frances Frey of Grand Rapids, Mich., established the foundation in 1974. Their son, David Gardner Frey, is foundation vice chairman and a longtime supporter of the College of Arts & Sciences. David Frey earned undergraduate and law degrees from Carolina.

Walker's visit is co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of the American South, the Morgan Writer-in-Residence Program, the English department and the college.

Seating in the auditorium is limited, so those attending are encouraged to arrive early. Doors will open at 6:45 p.m. Overflow seating with sound and video will be available in the choral room and lobby.

Limited parking will be available for $1 an hour in the Swain lot off Cameron Avenue and the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center lot off Franklin Street.

For more information, see english.unc.edu/Morgan_Program, e-mail walker_event@unc.edu or call 962-5665.