Poet and author Maya Angelou has been announced as this year’s recipient of the Literarian Award, an honorary National Book Award for contributions to the literary community.
It’s the first major literary prize for the 85-year-old Angelou, who has been celebrated everywhere from the Grammy Awards to the White House. She has received three Grammys for best spoken word album, a National Medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor.
“Dr. Angelou’s body of work transcends the words on the page,” the book foundation’s executive director, Harold Augenbraum, said in a statement. “She has been on the front lines of history and the fight for social justice and decade after decade remains a symbol of the redemptive power of literature in the contemporary world.”
Also a dancer, actress, filmmaker, singer and activist, Angelou has made historic contributions to reading and writing.
Her book “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” is among the most widely read and widely taught memoirs of the past half-century, memorably documenting her rise from the rural, segregated South to international fame. Her poem “On the Pulse of the Morning” – which she recited in 1993 at President Bill Clinton’s first inauguration – quickly sold hundreds of thousands of copies.
Information from Eurweb.com contributed to this report.
