There’s a reason why Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the #1 best seller in American poetry on Amazon. This book has made an impact on so many. Since its release in 1970, it has changed lives, saved lives, inspired new writers to pick up a pen or a computer keyboard to tell their own stories, inspired many who have endured pain and prejudice to seek joy and find strength. One of the people it inspired the most is Oprah Winfrey, who writes such an elegant and honest foreword about her friend and mentor for the Random House reissue, It’s being released just in time for April 4th, what would have been Maya Angelou’s 87th birthday. Complete with that iconic 70’s cover and all!

“Maya Angelou lived what she wrote. She understood that sharing her truth connected her to the greater human truths – of longing, abandonment, security, hope, wonder, prejudice, mystery, and finally self discovery: the realization of who you really are and the liberation that love brings. And each of those timeless truths unfolds in this first autobiographical account of her life.” — Oprah Winfrey, foreword to Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Photo via Oprah.com

What a beautiful thing it is, to live and to share and to have taught by such rich and vivid example. Click here to get your copy of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, just in case your personal library needs a new copy complete with the foreword by Mother O.

If you’ve never heard Oprah’s speech at the Maya Angelou memorial at Wake Forest University, watch this and feel her spirit.

Thank you for the enduring gifts you gave us, Maya Angelou.

COMMENTS

pets says:

March 26, 2015, 4:16 pm

Lovely and talented ladies - Maya, Oprah and Afrobella!

Jordan says:

March 27, 2015, 3:08 pm

Both of these women have a way with words. It's an incredible read, and I might just splurge a little to get this edition with that beautiful cover and foreword. Thank you for sharing this!