Pictured: Eric Arena, Lou Benjamin, John Dennis, Chris Charles, Sachi Shastri, Mayor Walter Rocker, Jr, Billy Webster, Fredrick Ward, Rev. James Kilgore and Larry Moore.

Local native and Pulitzer Prize winning author Alice Walker was celebrated at the Georgia Writers Museum in Eatonton with a proclamation officially designating her birthday, Feb. 9 as “Alice Walker Day” in Putnam County.

It was standing room only as GWM members, officials and local well-wishers gathered for the event (many clad in purple in honor of Walker’s prize-winning novel, “The Color Purple”).

The ceremony began with opening remarks by GWM president John Dennis. Also taking part were Mayor Walter C. Rocker Jr., Commissioner Billy Webster, Eric Arena, superintendent of Putnam County Charter Schools, Chris Charles, headmaster of Gatewood Schools, Lou Benjamin, President, Briar Patch Arts council and the Rev. James Kilgore. Putnam County High School student Sachi Shastri read one of Walker’s poems.

A birthday cake and sweet tea reception brought the afternoon to a close.