Maya Angelo

Maya Angelou was born on April 4, 1928. She grew up in St. Louis at Stamps, Arkansas. When she was three years old her parents got a divorce and she and her brother moved in with their grandparents. When she was only 8 she was raped from her mother's boyfriend while visiting her. Later on in life she started reading William Shakespeare, Edger Allan Poe, and Paul Lawrence Dunbar and became her inspiration to write.

She was an unwed mother and to support her son. In 1959, at request "Martin Luther King Jr. became northern coordinator for the Southern Christian leadership Conference." (poets.org) In the mid 1960's she was an "editor for newspapers in Africa." (Wikipedia) She returned home in the 1970's, and she wrote the original screenplay and musical score for the film Georgia, Georgia.

She was nominated twice for the Tony Award for acting and once for her Broadway debut Ð''Look Away'. She also did a performance in the famous movie Roots. She was the first black women director in Hollywood.

In 1981, Angelou became a "professor of American studies at Wake Forest University", were she still works to this day. (Wikipedia) She has appeared on the Oprah show on a few occasions. Angelou is a member, along with "Martin Sheen, of Consistent Life" a group which is pro-life in all aspects being against abortion, the death penalty and euthanasia.

In 1993, Angelou read her poem On the Pulse of Morning at Bill Clinton's Presidential inauguration at his request. She has also won tons more of awards.

Maya Angelou, as a writer, has an ability to recapture the texture of the way of life. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, a chronicle of her life up to age sixteen (and ending with the birth of her son, Guy) was published in 1970 with great critical and commercial success. The style of Maya Angelou range from complex symbolical ideas.

Firstly, her style is like a story. Second, the vocabulary is usually easy to understand, and not too complicated. And, her works are not always conventional: sometimes she writes in normal four line stanzas with rhyme and rhythm and sometimes she does not. Today she is still alive and very healthy. And she is now 87 and hoping to live longer.