The distinguished author and poet Maya Angelou has passed away at the age of 86 in her North Carolina home, officials at the city of Winston-Salem mayor’s office have confirmed.
Angelou’s canon - which spanned over fifty years - included seven autobiographies, three books of essays and various poetry books, and the female author was also credited in several plays and films.
But Angelou’s work was not just limited to the arts and literature. She worked alongside both Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X and was the first poet since 1961 to make an inaugural recital when she read “On the Pulse of Morning” for Bill Clinton in 1993.
Arguably Angelou’s most famous work, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, explored her personal life while also expanding the scope of what an autobiography could accomplish.
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