Pulitzer Prize winning author Alice M. Walker urged fathers to support their daughters' quest to take sexual control of their bodies before a crowd of about 900 people last night at Sanders Theatre.

During the speech, Walker read excerpts from her latest novel titled By the Light of My Father's Smile. The speech was the ninth stop on a book-signing tour for the novel.

"Fathers must teach us from birth," Walker said during her speech. "There has to be discussion. There has to be solidarity, and it has to start really early."

"Fathers have to be friends to their daughters," she said.

Walker, whose best known works include The Color Purple and In Search of Our Mother's Gardens: Womanist Prose, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1983 for The Color Purple.

During her speech, Walker also pushed for further exploration of sex and its emotional consequences in literature.

"It is helpful to have sex celebrated and sexuality celebrated in a positive way," she said. "If we as women don't affirm our sexuality, we are in danger of losing it. It is in peril."

We have to insist that sexuality is part of what makes us spiritual beings," Walker said.

Walker warned women of European descent in the audience that they must overcome a particular burden in their quest for sexual freedom.

"You have a real cross to bear," she told such women. "You lost your strong mother in the witch trials. You're going to have to try to find your pre-witch selves."

Walker received an enthusiastic response from the largely female audience.

She also took time to encourage writers andartists in the audience, especially those whosework has been repeatedly rejected by critics.

"With time, there will arise people who seeyour vision and share it," she told buddingauthors.

Students who attended the speech said they weremoved by Walker's words.

"Alice Walker spoke to my soul," said Joslyn C.O'Connor '02.

"It was great to hear her words in her ownvoice," said Anne W. Greenidge, a BostonUniversity student.

Last night's reading marked the start of asix-week lecture series sponsored by the Committeeon Degrees in Women's Studies entitled "Gender atthe Millennium."

"We [are] thrilled to kick off the series withAlice Walker, who is not simply one of the mostimportant novelists writing today but is also areal visionary--a person whose political and moralimagination is so much needed as the[twenty-first] century looms," wrote AnnPellegrini '86, acting director of studies for theCommittee on Degrees in Women's Studies in ane-mail.

According to Pellegrini, who is also assistantprofessor of English and American Literature andLanguage, the series aims to examine anxietiesabout the coming turn of the century.

"Amidst the apocalyptic clamor surrounding themillennium, this six-week series represents amodest attempt to slow the pace of celebration andanxiety," she said.

Walker's speech was also sponsored by RadcliffeCollege and the Women and Public Policy Program atthe John F. Kennedy School of Government.CrimsonSamantha A. GoldsteinALICE M. WALKER reads from her new novel, Bythe Light of My Father's Eyes, at a speech lastnight at Sanders Theatre. The speech was the firstof a six part lecture series titled "Gender at theMillenium."