Maya Angelou has been a singer, a dancer, an actor and a poet. But she is most revered as a potent voice for the American civil rights movement and for the African American community in general.
She came to international attention in 1970 when the first volume of her autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, was published. She's now 74 and has just published the sixth and final part of her story. It's called A Song Flung Up to Heaven and covers the late sixties. Jenni asks her if this book was the hardest for her to write. A Song Flung Up To Heaven, Publ: Virago, ISBN: 1 86049 936 8, £12.99
