Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now (9 page)

Maya Angelou, author of the bestselling
A Song Flung Up to Heaven, Even the Stars Look Lonesome, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Gather Together in My Name, Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas, Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now
and the Oprah Book Club selection
The Heart of a Woman
, has also written five collections of poetry:
Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie; Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well; And Still I Rise; Shaker, Why Don't You Sing?
and
I Shall Not Be Moved
, as well as
On the Pulse of Morning
, which was read by her at the inauguration of President William Jefferson Clinton on January 20, 1993. In theater, she produced, directed and starred in
Cabaret for Freedom
in collaboration with Godfrey Cambridge at New York's Village Gate, starred in Genet's
The Blacks
at the St. Mark's Playhouse and adapted Sophocles'
Ajax
, which premiered at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles in 1974. In film and television, she wrote the original screenplay and musical score for the film
Georgia, Georgia
and wrote and produced a ten-part TV series on African traditions in American life. In the sixties, at the request of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., she became Northern Coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and in 1975 she received the
Ladies' Home Journal
Woman of the Year Award in communications. She has received numerous honorary degrees, was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year and by President Gerald R. Ford to the American Revolution Bicentennial Advisory Council. She is on the board of trustees of the American Film Institute. One of the few female members of the Directors Guild, Angelou is the author of the television screenplays
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
and
The Sisters
. Most recently, she wrote the lyrics for the musical
King: Drum Major for Love
and was both host and writer for the series of documentaries
Maya Angelou's America: A Journey of the Heart
, along with Guy Johnson. Angelou is currently Reynolds Professor at Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.