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Maya Angelou: The Autobiographies
- Six BBC Radio 4 Dramatisations
- Narrated by: Pippa Bennett-Warner, Indie Gjesdal, full cast
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Radio/TV Program
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, Cultural & Regional
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Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age - and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. But years later, she learns about love for herself and the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors.
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Maya Angelou, one of the best-loved authors of our time, shares the wisdom of a remarkable life in this best-selling spiritual classic. This is Maya Angelou talking from the heart, down to earth and real, but also inspiring. This is a book to be treasured, a book about being in all ways a woman, about living well, about the power of the word, and about the power of spirituality to move and shape your life. Passionate, lively, and lyrical, Maya Angelou’s latest unforgettable work offers a gem of truth in every minute.
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So good.
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Dedicated to the daughter she never had but sees all around her, Letter to My Daughter reveals Maya Angelou's path to living well and living a life with meaning. Told in her own inimitable style, this book transcends genres and categories: guidebook, memoir, poetry, and pure delight. Here in short spellbinding essays are glimpses of the tumultuous life that led Angelou to an exalted place in American letters and taught her lessons in compassion and fortitude.
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Wisdom that not only experience can give...
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Maya Angelou’s unforgettable collection of poetry lends its name to the documentary film about her life, And Still I Rise, as seen on PBS’s American Masters. “It is true poetry she is writing,” M. F.K . Fisher has observed, “not just rhythm, the beat, rhymes. I find it very moving and at times beautiful. It has an innate purity about it, unquenchable dignity.... It is astounding, flabbergasting, to recognize it, in all the words I read every day and night...it gives me heart, to hear so clearly the caged bird singing and to understand her notes.”
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Nothing compares to hearing the actual author read
- By Barry White on 05-28-14
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Finding Me
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- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
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In my book, you will meet a little girl named Viola who ran from her past until she made a life-changing decision to stop running forever. This is my story, from a crumbling apartment in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to the stage in New York City, and beyond. This is the path I took to finding my purpose but also my voice in a world that didn’t always see me.
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A Glorious Listen!
- By Ajm220 on 04-27-22
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A Song Flung Up to Heaven
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
This is the next installment in a six volume autobiography that began more than thirty years ago with the appearance of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. In A Song Flung Up to Heaven Maya Angelou describes her poignant encounters with Martin Luther King, Jr.; her work with the civil rights movement; and witnessing the Watts riots. Battered by the loss of revered black leaders, it takes writer James Baldwin to finally force her out of isolation with a dinner party that inspired her to write.
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Being there is part of the strength of this book.
- By Cecil on 07-26-04
By: Maya Angelou
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
- A BBC Radio 4 Dramatisation
- By: Maya Angelou
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Abandoned by their parents, Maya and her older brother, Bailey, are sent to live with their grandmother and uncle in the small Southern town of Stamps in Arkansas. Struggling with rejection, they endure the prejudice of their white neighbours and suffer several racist incidents. One day, their father unexpectedly returns and takes the children to live with their mother in St Louis, Missouri. Aged only eight, Maya is abused by her mother's boyfriend, an experience that haunts her for a lifetime.
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Loved It!!
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By: Maya Angelou
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Abridged)
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A phenomenal number-one best seller that has appeared on The New York Times best-seller list for nearly three years, this memoir traces Maya Angelou's childhood in a small, rural community during the 1930s. Filled with imagery and recollections that point to the dignity and courage of Black men and women, Angelou paints a sometimes disquieting, but always affecting picture of the people, and the times, that touched her life.
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Almost Gripping
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Hallelujah! The Welcome Table
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Throughout Maya Angelou's life, from her childhood in Stamps, Arkansas, to her world travels as a best-selling writer, good food has played a central role. Preparing and enjoying homemade meals provides a sense of purpose and calm, accomplishment, and connection. Now in Hallelujah! The Welcome Table, Angelou shares memories pithy and poignant, and the recipes that helped to make them both indelible and irreplaceable.
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I love listening to Ms. Maya...
- By Elf's Mama on 11-06-04
By: Maya Angelou
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Even the Stars Look Lonesome
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Even the Stars Look Lonesome is Maya Angelou talking of the things she cares about most. In her unique, spellbinding way, she recreates intimate personal experiences and gives us her wisdom on a wide variety of subjects. She tells us how a house can both hurt its occupants and heal them. She talks about Africa. She gives us a profile of Oprah. She enlightens us about age and sexuality.
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amazing
- By Amazon Customer on 02-28-17
By: Maya Angelou
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Allow Me to Retort
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Performance
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Story
This is an easily digestible argument about what rights we have, what rights Republicans are trying to take away, and how to stop them. Mystal explains how to protect the rights of women and people of color instead of cowering to the absolutism of gun owners and bigots. He explains the legal way to stop everything from police brutality to political gerrymandering, just by changing a few judges and justices. He strips out all of the fancy jargon conservatives like to hide behind and lays bare the truth of their project to keep America forever tethered to its slaveholding past.
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Informative and Entertaining
- By Kindle Customer on 03-06-22
By: Elie Mystal
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The Audacity of Hope
- Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
- By: Barack Obama
- Narrated by: Barack Obama
- Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins
- Abridged
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Story
In July 2004, Barack Obama electrified the Democratic National Convention with an address that spoke to Americans across the political spectrum. Now, in The Audacity of Hope, Senator Obama calls for a different brand of politics: a politics for those weary of bitter partisanship and alienated by the "endless clash of armies" we see in Congress and on the campaign trail; a politics rooted in the faith, inclusiveness, and nobility of spirit at the heart of "our improbable experiment in democracy".
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From a conservative
- By Amazon Customer on 03-01-19
By: Barack Obama
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Making Magic in the World
- By: Maya Angelou
- Narrated by: Michael Toms
- Length: 51 mins
- Original Recording
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Performance
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Story
This gifted storyteller poignantly shares the memories of those mentors and teachers who profoundly influenced her life. She speaks of her voluntary muteness as a child. Even in this silence, "Mama" (Angelou's grandmother) spoke prophetically to the child's unbelieving ears: "You'll speak about the glorious nature of the human spirit and what we can be striving for."
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Simple Truths
- By Dr. Gatewood on 03-28-18
By: Maya Angelou
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Their Eyes Were Watching God
- By: Zora Neale Hurston
- Narrated by: Ruby Dee
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Their Eyes Were Watching God, an American classic, is the luminous and haunting novel about Janie Crawford, a Southern Black woman in the 1930s, whose journey from a free-spirited girl to a woman of independence and substance has inspired writers and readers for close to 70 years.
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Ruby Dee is amazing
- By Jennifer on 04-20-13
Publisher's Summary
BBC Radio 4's stunning dramatisations of Maya Angelou's autobiographies - modern American classics beloved worldwide.
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.
This collection includes:
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
- Gather Together in My Name
- Singin’ and Swingin’ and Getting’ Merry Like Christmas
- The Heart of a Woman
- All God’s Children Need Travelling Shoes
- A Song Flung Up to Heaven
Dramatised by award-winning playwrights Patricia Cumper, Winsome Pinnock and Janice Okoh, and starring Indie Gjesdal playing the young Maya, with Pippa Bennett-Warner playing the adult Maya.
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What listeners say about Maya Angelou: The Autobiographies
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- D
- 12-07-19
That was the best books I never read. Amazing,
Using audible for this autobiography was beyond great. I was intrigued the entire time. I was excited to listen to the story of her life and learned so much. The story was so realistic I was completely immersed at all times. I laughed and cried. I truly loved it.
9 people found this helpful
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- Maureen Fitzpatrick
- 04-07-21
Disappointedly condensed and “performed”
Ms. Angelou’s life doesn’t deserve to be forced into a Reader’s Digest condensed feel. But it’s probably a feature of the staged treatment. And I don’t know if it’s just me or what, but these performed versions of her autobiographies don’t feel true. I’d prefer to hear these simply read. A far cry from Maya Angelou’s voice delivering I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.
1 person found this helpful
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- Valarie griffin
- 03-09-21
Esqisite and exceptional!
I loved every morsel and meaty story! I can see why Mya Angelou was so loved. She is such a decadent writer 💕
1 person found this helpful
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- Dr Ag
- 04-30-22
Really Great!
Better than expected story with Stellar performances. Sort of a Fictional Reality - life imitating art.
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- GoldenSongBird2
- 03-14-22
Poetic songstress & trailblazer
Loved it,
one of the first authors I fell in love with as a teen. I felt as if I walked with her on her journey of life.
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- Benita
- 09-14-20
I love Maya Angelou
Her life story is so amazing!! I absolutely enjoyed this audible; I didn't want the story to him.
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- Mike C Davies
- 01-27-20
Excellent BBC production
I heard one of these 6 books on BBC 4xtra, which drew me to try them all. I'd read 'I know why the caged bird sings' years back. What an amazing and vivid life Maya Angelou lived 😊. Great BBC production, with narrator and all the Maya actress's really good, highly recommended
6 people found this helpful
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- Zoe Dunn
- 09-03-19
Fantastic!
Great story and cast. What an inspirational person and so interesting from an historical point of view
4 people found this helpful
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- Rosie Lewis
- 09-10-21
what am amazing woman
I read her first volume many years ago and then heard part of one on the radio and was hooked. I have listened to these biographies several times and will do so again. An extraordinary life, brilliantly written and performed. I can't praise it enough.
2 people found this helpful
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- Mama bear
- 03-20-21
Addictive and wonderful
I couldn't stop listening.
Beautifully written. Wonderfully performed and read. I am only sad it came to an end.
❤❤❤❤
2 people found this helpful
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- Rachael Harding
- 07-06-20
ABSOLUTELY SUPERB
This was absolutely brilliant..The narration, the actor's voices and the way it was all brought to life. One of my favourite ever audionooks . I have over 100. I loved the historical references too.
I may look for more dramatisations now I've tried this. I was a fan of Maya Angelou anyway, but her life and times were so interesting that i think this book would be enjoyed whether you knew who she was before listening or not..
Well worth a credit 😊
2 people found this helpful
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- bev
- 04-26-20
Fascinating!
compelling listening. didn't know that she had led such a varied, interesting, up and down life. fascinating to hear! takes you through the full range of emotions, from sorrow, to anger, to laughter, to frustration, to joy, to ... an interesting lady that all of our young women could learn a few lessons from.
2 people found this helpful
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- Maria Vincent
- 01-26-20
Amazing a fantastic audiobook
Really gripping interesting diverse topics themes life events.... simply wonderful. One to download listen to and repeat.
1 person found this helpful
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- E17
- 05-22-22
If you love Maya, you will love this.
Excellent!! What a life Maya Angelou had. I didn't want it to end. Excellent
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- sea gypsies
- 05-14-20
Like in the days before television...
I love these dramatisations. I have read the complete biographies of Maya Angelou, but hearing it this way just adds a special old school touch that I so adore.
1 person found this helpful