Maya Angelou | Author

Maya Angelou
The voice of contemporary literature

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PUBLISHED: Sep.23.2008

Letter to My Daughter

For a world of devoted readers, a much-awaited new volume of absorbing stories and inspirational wisdom from one of our best-loved writers. Dedicated to the daughter she never had but sees all around her, Letter to My Daughter reveals Maya Angelou’s path to living well and living a life with meaning. Told in her own inimitable style, this book transcends genres and categories:...

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PUBLISHED: Apr.04.2008

Maya Angelou: A Glorious Celebration (by Marcia Ann Gillespie, Rosa Johnson Butler, Richard A. Long; foreward by Oprah Winfrey)

A Glorious Celebration, by Marcia Gillespie, Richard Long and Rosa Johnson Butler was released on Maya Angelou's eightieth birthday. A Glorious Celebration is a descriptive pictorial history of Dr. Angelou's life. It includes some never before released photographs from the Angelou Johnson Archives and from other photographers.

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PUBLISHED: Apr.02.2013

Mom & Me & Mom

The story of Maya Angelou’s extraordinary life has been chronicled in her multiple bestselling autobiographies. But now, at last, the legendary author shares the deepest personal story of her life: her relationship with her mother. For the first time, Angelou reveals the triumphs and struggles of being the daughter of Vivian Baxter, an indomitable spirit whose petite...

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PUBLISHED: Dec.14.2010

Great Food, All Day Long: Cook Splendidly, Eat Smart

Great Food, All Day Long is an essential reference for everyone who wants to eat better and smarter—and a delightful peek into the kitchen and the heart of a remarkable woman.

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PUBLISHED: Apr.01.1983

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

Dr. Angelou’s first autobiographical volume recounts her difficult youth from Arkansas to St. Louis to California. Filled with disappointment and tragedy, Angelou emerges from a remarkable struggle with a hard-fought independence and triumphant spirit intact.

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PUBLISHED: Oct.09.2007

Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes

Readers familiar with Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will find what may be the secret ingredient of her success in this collection of tear- and laughter-provoking vignettes with seventy-three savory recipes. Here's Angelou's grandmother's Chicken and Dumplings, Crackling Corn Bread and Caramel Cake. Big brother Bailey makes a mean batch of Smothered Pork Chops and knows...

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PUBLISHED: Oct.24.2006

Celebrations: Rituals of Peace and Prayer

Grace, dignity, and eloquence have long been hallmarks of Maya Angelou’s poetry. Her measured verses have stirred our souls, energized our minds, and healed our hearts. Whether offering hope in the darkest of nights or expressing sincere joy at the extraordinariness of the everyday, Maya Angelou has served as our common voice. Celebrations is a collection of timely and timeless...

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PUBLISHED: Apr.11.2006

Mother: A Cradle to Hold Me

Poet, writer, performer, teacher, and director Maya Angelou was raised in Stamps, Arkansas, and then moved to San Francisco. In addition to her bestselling autobiographies, beginning with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, she has also written a cookbook, Hallelujah! The Welcome Table; five poetry collections, including I Shall Not Be Moved and Shaker, Why Don’t You Sing?; and the...

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PUBLISHED: Dec.01.2005

Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem

In this beautiful, deeply moving poem, Maya Angelou inspires us to embrace the peace and promise of Christmas, so that hope and love can once again light up our holidays and the world. “Angels and Mortals, Believers and Nonbelievers, look heavenward,” she writes, “and speak the word aloud. Peace.” Read by the poet at the lighting of the National Christmas Tree at the White House...

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PUBLISHED: Sep.21.2004

The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou

Superbly told, with the poet's gift for language and observation, Angelou's autobiography of her childhood in Arkansas—a world of which most Americans are ignorant.

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PUBLISHED: Sep.01.2003

A Song Flung Up to Heaven

The culmination of a unique achievement in modern American literature: the six volumes of autobiography that began more than 30 years ago with the appearance of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. A Song Flung Up to Heaven opens as Maya Angelou returns from Africa to the United States to work with Malcolm X. But first she has to journey to California to be reunited with her mother...

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PUBLISHED: Mar.11.2003

Kofi and His Magic

A young Ashanti boy invites readers to visit his West African village, famous for fine kente cloth, and to share his magic: a masterful imagination. Artistic typesetting composition is accompanied by appealing color photos that bring the lyrical text into sharp focus. Kofi is an engaging scamp whose vivid “daydreams” that transport him to other places will speak to children...

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PUBLISHED: Aug.07.2001

And Still I Rise

These poems are powerful, distinctive and as always, full of lifting rhythms of love and remembering.

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PUBLISHED: Aug.05.1997

Even the Stars Look Lonesome

The compelling wisdom and deeply felt perceptions of Maya Angelou have been cherished by millions of readers. Now, in a continuation of her bestseller Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now, she shares many of her most treasured personal experiences, reflecting on the ideas and inspirations that have touched her heart. Even the Stars Look Lonesome is a profound series of essays...

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PUBLISHED: May.20.1997

All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes

All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes takes Maya to Ghana, where she joins a community of black Americans. In a vivid celebration of the sights, sounds, and feelings of Africa, Maya Angelou also explores what it means to be African-American on the mother continent, where color no longer matters, but where American-ness asserts itself in ways both puzzling and heartbreaking. Once...

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PUBLISHED: May.13.1997

I Shall Not Be Moved: Poems

In her first book of poetry since Why Don't You Sing? Maya Angelou, bestselling author of the classic autobiography I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, writes with lyric, passionate intensity that reaches out to touch the heart and mind. This memorable collection of poems exhibits Maya Angelou's unique gift for capturing the triumph and pain of being black and every man and woman's...

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PUBLISHED: May.09.1997

The Heart of a Woman

The Heart of a Woman continues Dr. Angelou’s autobiographical work begun in I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, exploring her beginnings as a writer and civil rights activist.

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PUBLISHED: Jan.01.1996

Maya Angelou: Poems

Tenderly, joyously, sometimes in sadness, sometimes in pain, Maya Angelou writes from the heart and celebrates life as only she has discovered it. In this moving volume of poetry, we hear the multifaceted voice of one of the most powerful and vibrant writers of our time.

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PUBLISHED: Jan.17.1995

Phenomenal Woman: Four Poems Celebrating Women

Maya Angelou, the bestselling author of Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now and other lavishly praised works, is considered one of America’s finest poets. Here, four of her most highly acclaimed poems are assembled in a beautiful gift edition that provides a feast for the eyes as well as the heart.

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PUBLISHED: Sep.13.1994

The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou

Here is the complete collection of Maya Angelou's published poems-including “On the Pulse of Morning”—in a permanent collectible, handsome hardcover edition.

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PUBLISHED: Sep.10.1994

My Painted House, My Friendly Chicken and Me

“Hello, Stranger-Friend” begins Maya Angelou's story about Thandi, a South African Ndebele girl, her mischievous brother, her beloved chicken, and the astonishing mural art produced by the women of her tribe. With never-before-seen photographs of the very private Ndebele women and their paintings, this unique book shows the passing of traditions from parent to child and introduces...

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PUBLISHED: Sep.21.1993

Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now

Angelou (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings) is leery of people who give up too easily, whiners, complainers, men seeking an “earth mother” and vulgar entertainers. In this collection of short essays, many only two to three pages in length, she discusses the value of charity and her faith in God. She rages with eloquence at the deaths of loved ones, and shares her thoughts on...

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PUBLISHED: Feb.06.1993

Life Doesn't Frighten Me

Maya Angelou’s brave, defiant poem celebrates the courage within each of us, young and old. From the scary thought of panthers in the park to the unsettling scene of a new classroom, fearsome images are summoned and dispelled by the power of faith in ourselves. Angelou’s strong words are matched by the daring vision of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose childlike style reveals the...

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PUBLISHED: Aug.12.1976

Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry like Christmas

Here Maya Angelou, dazzling entertainer, casts the spotlight on her show business career—a pageant of international scope. Maya, the woman, shares her sad, failed marriage to a white man, her early motherhood and achingly sensitive relationship with her young son, and her bone-deep, painful suspicion of the white world that welcomes her talent so dramatically.

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Maya's Latest Blogs

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Feb.27.2009 - 6:04 pm

New Podcast Interview With Me Featured On Red Room

The Red Room editors have featured a new podcast on the homepage this week. My fellow Red Room author Judy Jones interviewed me not long ago,...

Dec.03.2007 - 11:26 am

The Practice of Courage

I am convinced that courage is the most important of all the virtues. Because without courage, you cannot practice any other virtues consistently. You can be kind for a while; you...

Writing

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Poem: A Pledge to Rescue Our Youth

Published Reviews

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May.11.1986

Published by The New York Times

... What is most remarkable is not her success, but her candid admissions of failure and her indisputable certainty that only a unique black spiritual heritage has carried her...

Audio & Video

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Video: Maya Angelou on Hillary Clinton

Video: Maya Angelou On The Power Of Words (CBS News)

Video: Still I Rise

About Maya

Maya Angelou is hailed as one of the great voices of contemporary literature and as a remarkable Renaissance woman. Being a poet, educator, historian, best-selling author, actress, playwright, civil-rights activist, producer and director, Dr. Angelou...

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Maya AngelouThe voice of contemporary literature

Featured Works

Maya's Latest Blogs

Writing

Published Reviews

Audio & Video

About Maya

Maya Angelou
The voice of contemporary literature