Episode 1

Available for over a year

Dramatisation of Maya Angelou's iconic debut memoir. This beautiful evocation of her life in the Deep South begins in 1931. As an infant Maya and her brother, Bailey are sent to live with their grandmother in Arkansas. Annie, whom they call Momma, runs the only store in the black section of Stamps and becomes the central moral figure in Maya's childhood. Dramatised in five parts by Patricia Cumper. Narrator ( Older Maya) ...... Adjoa Andoh Maya ...... Indie Gjedsal Bailey ...... Roshawn Hewitt Momma ...... Cecilia Noble Uncle Willie ...... Richard Pepple Steward ...... John Lightbody Girl ...... Francesca Elise The books that make up the life and times of Maya Angelou are some of the best, most beautiful and haunting pieces of autobiography written. They run the gamut from life affirming to tragedy and back again with a tone that is a joyous, direct and searingly honest, and are an extraordinary portrait of 20th-century black America. Director: Pauline Harris First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2018.