Conversations with Maya Angelou

Ebony, Sept, 1989

Conversations With Maya Angelou

MAYA Angelou is one of the world's true renaissance persons -- an accomplished writer-director-dancer-actress-teacher and civil rights activist whose many talents and achievements cannot be fully conveyed in even the most elongated combination of hyphenated titles. Perhaps she is best described as an "artist," and an influential one at that. Her work, including five autobiographical books, several volumes of poetry and a play or two, have inspired a generation of young writers and performers, among them the celebrated talk show host Oprah Winfrey and author Alice Walker.

To her many devoted fans, Ms. Angelou's every word is a pearl. And so they, as well as others who are not as familiar with her work, will be delighted with the revelations in Conversations With Maya Angelou (University Press of Mississippi, $25.95), a compilation of interviews conducted between 1971 and 1988 by an assortment of journalists, including television's Bill Moyers.

Editor Jeffrey M. Elliot has assembled the interviews chronologically, and, as a result, provides a very clear picture of the life, development and creative process of this unique woman. In her own melodious words Ms. Angelou reveals to each interviewer her spirit, her joys, her drives and, above all, the faith that is the wellspring of her many talents. Conversations With Maya Angelou speaks volumes to those who know Ms. Angelou's work intimately--providing them with even more insights--and serves as a fitting introduction to those who may not be acquainted with her diverse artistic offerings.