‘Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.’

Maya Angelou
Verenigde Staten 1928 – 2014 schrijver en dichter

Ik weet waarom de gekooide vogel zingt.
Niets is pijnlijker dan gevangen zitten in een onverteld verhaal.
Ik had verslagen kunnen zijn door de vele nederlagen die mijn pad hebben gekruisd. Ik heb geleden in vele toonaarden.
Maar niets heeft mijn innerlijk vuur kunnen doven.

Mijn hele leven lang heb ik vormgegeven aan wat tot zwijgen was gebracht.
Als kind sprak ik jaren niet.
Je zou kunnen zeggen dat ik in het zwijgen de moed heb verzameld
om de vrouw te worden die ik ben.
Ik zong, ik danste, ik schreef, ik dichtte.
Ik ondersteunde Martin Luther King,
Ik begeleidde Oprah en Michelle, en ik sprak voor en met presidenten.
I’m a woman.
Phenomenally.
Phenomenaly woman,
That’s me.

M.Coppes (laatste vier zinnen zijn uit een gedicht van Maya Angelou, eerste zin is de titel van het boek waarmee ze doorbrak).

Maya Angelou (Margueritte Johnson) 1928 –2014

Over Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou maakte naam met haar eerste roman ‘I know why the caged bird sings‘, waarin ze traumatische ervaringen uit haar jeugd beschrijft. Deze bestseller werd verfilmd. Maya Angelou sprak meermaals bij officiële gelegenheden van de regering van de Verenigde Staten. Bij de inauguratie van president Clinton las zij op zijn verzoek haar gedicht ‘On the Pulse of Morning’ voor en in 2013 vertolkte zij in een video van het United States Department of State namens het Amerikaanse volk het gedicht ‘His day is gone’, over het leven van Nelson Mandela.

About Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou, born Marguerite Annie Johnson was an American author, poet, dancer, actress and singer. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, and several books of poetry, and was 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 is best known for her series of seven autobiographies, which 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 series of occupations as a young adult, including fry cook, prostitute, nightclub dancer and performer, cast member of the opera Porgy and Bess, coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and journalist in Egypt and Ghana during the decolonization of Africa. She was an actor, writer, director, and producer of plays, movies, and public television programs. In 1982, she earned the first lifetime Reynolds Professorship of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She was active in the Civil Rights movement, and worked with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Beginning in the 1990s, she made around 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 President Bill Clinton’s inauguration, making her the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since Robert Frost at President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration 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. Attempts have been made to ban her books from some U.S. libraries, but her works are widely used in schools and universities worldwide. Angelou’s major works have been labeled as autobiographical fiction, but many critics have characterized them as 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 such as racism, identity, family, and travel.

Source Wikipedia

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  • Maya Angelou Amerikaans auteur,dichter, danser, actrice/American author, poet, dancer, actress and singer