Maya Angelou (Author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings)

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Maya Angelou

Born

in St. Louis, Missouri, The United States

April 04, 1928

Died

May 28, 2014

Website

Twitter

Genre

Biographies & Memoirs, Poetry

Influences

Robert Burns ...more

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Maya Angelou was an American memoirist, poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. Angelou's series of seven autobiographies focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.
She became a poet and writer after a string of odd jobs during her young adulthood. These included fry cook, sex worker, nightclub performer, Porgy and Bess cast member, Southern Christian Leadership Maya Angelou was an American memoirist, poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. Angelou's series of seven autobiographies focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.
She became a poet and writer after a string of odd jobs during her young adulthood. These included fry cook, sex worker, nightclub performer, Porgy and Bess cast member, Southern Christian Leadership Conference coordinator, and correspondent in Egypt and Ghana during the decolonization of Africa. Angelou was also an actress, writer, director, and producer of plays, movies, and public television programs. In 1982, she was named the first Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Angelou was active in the Civil Rights Movement and worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Beginning in the 1990s, she made approximately 80 appearances a year on the lecture circuit, something she continued into her eighties. In 1993, Angelou recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" (1993) at the first inauguration of Bill Clinton, making her the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since Robert Frost at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961.
With the publication of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou publicly discussed aspects of her personal life. She was respected as a spokesperson for Black people and women, and her works have been considered a defense of Black culture. Her works are widely used in schools and universities worldwide, although attempts have been made to ban her books from some U.S. libraries. Angelou's most celebrated works have been labeled as autobiographical fiction, but many critics consider them to be autobiographies. She made a deliberate attempt to challenge the common structure of the autobiography by critiquing, changing, and expanding the genre. Her books center on themes that include racism, identity, family, and travel.
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Maya Angelou鈥檚 books

Average rating: 4.28 · 763,602 ratings · 33,556 reviews · 257 distinct works 鈥� Similar authors

	I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou's Autobiography, #1) 4.30 avg rating — 558,532 ratings — published 1969 — 112 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Letter to My Daughter 4.09 avg rating — 33,338 ratings — published 1987 — 63 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mom & Me & Mom 4.21 avg rating — 26,357 ratings — published 2013 — 41 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Heart of a Woman 4.23 avg rating — 24,457 ratings — published 1981 — 76 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Gather Together in My Name 4.31 avg rating — 17,783 ratings — published 1974 — 68 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Complete Collected Poems 4.44 avg rating — 13,696 ratings — published 1994 — 47 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now 4.30 avg rating — 10,651 ratings — published 1993 — 16 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	And Still I Rise 4.40 avg rating — 10,336 ratings — published 1978 — 40 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas (Maya Angelou's Autobiography, #3) 4.25 avg rating — 9,407 ratings — published 1976 — 45 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes 4.28 avg rating — 7,844 ratings — published 1986 — 49 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Maya Angelou…

Series by Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou's Autobiography (7 books)
by

Maya Angelou

4.29 avg rating — 648,831 ratings

Maya's World (5 books)
by

Maya Angelou,

Lizzy Rockwell (Illustrations)

4.03 avg rating — 149 ratings

聽 Luvvie Ajayi Jones鈥攁uthor, cultural critic, digital entrepreneur鈥攎ight be best described as a professional truthteller. Her crazily popular...

Polls

November 2014 New School Classics Poll

1911, Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie, 155 pages

20 votes, 14.7%

1920, The Age of Innocence byEdith Wharton, 305 pages

19 votes, 14.0%

1970, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, 291 pages

14 votes, 10.3%

1997, Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, 428 pages

13 votes, 9.6%

1962, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, 211 pages

10 votes, 7.4%

1985, Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy, 337 pages

10 votes, 7.4%

1998, The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, 546 pages

9 votes, 6.6%

1908, The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton, 198 pages

8 votes, 5.9%

1993, Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Berni猫res, 437 pages

7 votes, 5.1%

1994, Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, 449 pages

7 votes, 5.1%

1956, Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin, 159 pages

5 votes, 3.7%

1914, Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham, 684 pages

3 votes, 2.2%

1920, Main Street by Sinclair Lewis, 454 pages

3 votes, 2.2%

1960, The Moviegoer by Walker Percy, 242 pages

3 votes, 2.2%

1939, How Green Was My Valleyby Richard Llewellyn, 448 pages

2 votes, 1.5%

1985, The Postman: Il Postino by Antonio Sk谩rmeta, 128 pages

2 votes, 1.5%

1966, Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih, 176 pages

1 vote, 0.7%

136 total votes

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