60 Fun Facts About The Color Purple

Who wrote the 1982 novel The Color Purple?

She had already published two novels, The Third Life of Grange Copeland and Meridian, before her best-known book.

In what year was the novel first published?

The film arrived just three years later, and the Broadway musical more than two decades after that.

Which honour did the novel win in 1983, making its author the first Black woman to win it for fiction?

Gwendolyn Brooks had won the same institution's poetry prize back in 1950.

Besides the Pulitzer, which other major US literary honour did the novel win in 1983?

In 2019 the BBC also placed it on its list of the 100 most influential novels.

The novel is written in which literary form?

Celie's early letters are addressed to God because she has no one else safe to tell about her stepfather's abuse.

To whom does Celie address her early letters?

Later in the book, after losing faith, she starts writing to her sister instead.

The novel is set in the rural countryside of which US state?

The author based the setting on her own childhood home of Eatonton, though the 1985 film was shot elsewhere.

Celie eventually starts calling her husband, known only as 'Mister', by his first name. What is it?

She only uses it once his fortunes have declined; he later proposes they marry 'in the spirit as well as in the flesh' and she declines.

What is the name of the man Celie believes is her father, later revealed to be her stepfather?

Celie's real father was lynched, and her mother's mental collapse was exploited by the man who raised her.

Mister's son Harpo marries which strong-willed woman?

When Harpo tries to beat her on Celie's advice, she fights back and wins.

Shug Avery, Mister's long-time mistress, makes her living as what?

She performs nightly at the juke joint Harpo opens after his wife leaves him.

Harpo's wife is beaten by police and jailed after striking whom?

She had refused the mayor's wife's offer to work as her maid, and was slapped for her retort before hitting back.

How long is Harpo's wife's prison sentence?

Squeak talks the warden, her white uncle, into releasing her to work as the mayor's wife's maid instead.

What is the real name of Harpo's girlfriend, nicknamed Squeak?

She later leaves town with Celie and Shug and starts singing herself.

Celie's sister goes to Africa with which missionary couple?

Unknown to anyone at first, the couple had adopted Celie's two children.

What are the names of Celie's two children, taken from her shortly after birth?

Both were raised in Africa by missionaries and return to Celie's house at the very end of the novel.

Celie, Shug and Squeak leave for which city, where Celie starts her own business?

Before leaving, Celie curses Mister at the dinner table in one of the book's most quoted scenes.

What kind of business does Celie start after leaving Mister?

She later inherits her parents' land and house and moves back home to run it from there.

In Africa, Celie's son Adam marries which local girl?

In solidarity with his bride's traditional facial scarring, Adam undergoes the same ritual himself.

At the end of the novel, Celie and her sister reunite after how many years apart?

Mister had hidden the sister's letters for years, which is why Celie assumed she was dead.

Late in the novel Shug breaks Celie's heart by falling for which member of her band?

Celie resolves to love Shug even if the love is not returned, and Shug eventually comes back.

When Shug returns to town married, what is her new husband's name?

It is while both husbands are out that Celie and Shug first sleep together and discover the hidden letters.

Where did the novel rank on the ALA's list of most challenged books of 2000-2009?

It held the same position on the 1990-1999 list, and made the annual top ten in both 2007 and 2009.

In 2008 BBC Radio 4 serialised the novel in ten 15-minute episodes on which programme?

Nadine Marshall played Celie and the production won a Sony Radio Academy Silver Drama Award.

In 2012 the author refused to allow a new edition of the novel to be published in which country?

She did so as part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, drawing criticism from Alan Dershowitz.

The author was born in which small farming town, the childhood home that inspired the novel's setting?

She was the youngest of eight children of sharecroppers and started school at four.

As an eight-year-old, the author was permanently blinded in her right eye by what?

Her family had no car to get her to a doctor in time, and she has said the injury turned her toward reading and writing.

In 1983 the author coined which term for 'a Black feminist or feminist of color'?

It appeared in her essay collection In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens.

In 1973 the author found and marked the unmarked grave of which Harlem Renaissance writer?

The marker calls her 'a genius of the South' and gives a birth year a decade too late.

The author graduated in 1965 from which school in Yonkers, New York?

She had started at Spelman in Atlanta and transferred after her mentor Howard Zinn was fired.

Which 1992 novel by the same author features characters and descendants from The Color Purple?

It follows Tashi and confronts the practice of female genital mutilation head-on.

Who directed the 1985 film adaptation?

It was his eighth film as director and a deliberate break from the summer blockbusters he was known for.

Who played Celie in the 1985 film, in her breakthrough role?

Her only previous film was a 1982 avant-garde piece, and her audition featured a stoned E.T. being arrested for drug possession.

Which TV host made her film debut as Sofia in 1985?

She was hired at the producer's insistence despite no acting experience, and later produced the musical and the 2023 film.

Who composed the 1985 film's score, the first Spielberg feature not scored by John Williams?

He also produced the film and delegated so much of the score that the Oscar nomination listed twelve names.

How many Academy Award nominations did the 1985 film receive without winning a single one?

It shares the record for most nominations without a win, and is the only such film not nominated for Best Director.

Who wrote the screenplay for the 1985 film after the novelist's own draft was set aside?

The Dutch-born writer worked under a clause giving the novelist final script approval, and she coached the actors' dialect uncredited.

Although set in the Deep South, the 1985 film was shot mainly in which state?

Marshville's paved roads were covered in mud and clay to look like the early 1900s, and a second unit went to Kenya.

Margaret Avery played Shug in 1985, but whose voice sang her songs?

Chaka Khan and Tina Turner had both turned down the role before Avery was cast.

Which actor played Celie's husband Mister in the 1985 film?

Like several cast members he was primarily a stage performer at the time; Lethal Weapon came two years later.

The 1985 film's lead lost the Best Actress Oscar to which star of The Trip to Bountiful?

Roger Ebert had called it 'one of the most amazing debut performances in movie history' and predicted a win.

Which song, sung by Shug in the 1985 film, later became a popular concert piece?

It was one of the songs from the original film later folded into the 2023 movie musical.

The 1985 Los Angeles premiere was picketed by which organisation over the film's depiction of rape?

The wider controversy centred on the portrayal of Black men, which some critics felt fed stereotypes.

Instead of his usual $15 million fee, the 1985 director took the Directors Guild minimum of how much?

He had initially felt the film should be made by a director of colour and that his knowledge of the Deep South was inadequate.

The novelist was sceptical about the director until she watched which of his films?

Her contract also required half the production team, aside from the cast, to be African American, women or 'people of the Third World'.

In which year did the stage musical open on Broadway?

It ran for 910 regular performances and recouped its $11 million investment within its first year.

Who wrote the book of the stage musical?

The songs came from three pop writers - Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray - rather than a traditional theatre team.

Who originated the role of Celie on Broadway in 2005?

She had also led the world-premiere production at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre the year before.

Who won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical as Celie in the Broadway revival?

She had first played the part at London's Menier Chocolate Factory in 2013, and the revival also won Best Revival of a Musical.

In the 2015 Broadway revival, Jennifer Hudson made her Broadway debut as which character?

Billboard said that 'with that voice, nobody's going to care' about her relative inexperience on stage.

What is Celie's climactic Act II solo in the musical, in which she finally feels love for herself?

Entertainment Weekly called the revival's performance of it a 'star-making moment'.

Who directed the 2023 movie musical?

The producers hired him after seeing his work on Beyonce's Black Is King and his film The Burial of Kojo.

Which American Idol winner made her film debut as Celie in 2023?

She had played the role on Broadway and on the national tour years earlier.

Who earned an Oscar nomination for playing Sofia in the 2023 film, reprising her Broadway role?

She had made her Broadway debut in the part in 2015 and was best known before that for Orange Is the New Black.

Who played Shug Avery in the 2023 film?

She later spoke publicly about being made to audition despite being the director's first choice.

Which actor played Mister in the 2023 film?

Corey Hawkins played his son Harpo, and Louis Gossett Jr. appeared as Mister's own abusive father.

Which singer made her feature acting debut as Squeak in the 2023 film?

Halle Bailey played young Nettie and Ciara played her as an adult.

The 1985 film's Celie makes a cameo in the 2023 film in what role?

She helps the teenage Celie give birth in the opening section of the film.

On what date did the second film adaptation open in US cinemas?

Its opening day was the second-biggest Christmas Day opening ever at the time, behind Sherlock Holmes.

What do Celie and Shug discover that Mister has been hiding from Celie for years?

Celie had concluded her sister was dead because no letters ever arrived; the discovery is a turning point in the novel.