She started writing at age 8 or 9, during a years-long, self-imposed silence after she was raped by her mother's boyfriend.Ī voracious reader, she eventually was urged to publish her work as an adult. The just-released biographical tribute traces Angelou's life and career with archival photographs and notes from her writings.Īngelou's foremost passion was always writing, even during her early days as a singer and dancer, and her activism alongside Martin Luther King Jr. Long, and her niece Rosa Johnson Butler have written a book in her honor titled Maya Angelou: A Glorious Celebration. Angelou, whose books of essays and poetry have sold millions of copies, was an inspirational figure long before her acclaimed memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was published in 1969.įor her 80th birthday, on April 4, her longtime friends Marcia Ann Gillespie and Richard A. Though she feels she sometimes needs to remind God she's still around, the rest of the world needs no prompting. "When I try to describe myself to God I say, 'Lord, remember me? Black? Female? Six-foot tall? The writer?' And I almost always get God's attention," Angelou tells NPR's Lynn Neary with a laugh. 19, 1993, at Bill Clinton's first inauguration.Īs she turns 80, the celebrated author, poet and artist Maya Angelou says she has figured out how to get divine attention. Angelou delivers her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" on Jan.
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