Maya Angelou passed on

Celebrated American author, poet, actress and
civil rights activist, Maya Angelou, is dead. She
died on Wednesday in her residence in North
Carolina, United States, at the age of 86.
According to a report monitored online, Angelou’s
death occurred shortly after she cancelled a
scheduled appearance at an award event, where
she was to be honoured with the Beacon of Life
Award, due to health problems.
Angelou was one of America’s most celebrated
writers. Before her death, she had received over
50 awards, including the Presidential Medal of
Freedom, for her works of poetry, fiction and
nonfiction.
In addition, she was honoured with honorary
degrees in more than 50 educational institutions
in the US.
The poet’s phenomenal memoir, I Know Why the
Caged Bird Sings – her first book which tells the
story of her life up to late adolescence – has
been described as one of the earliest best-selling
works of non-fiction by an African-American
woman.
The book was nominated for a National Book
Award.
Encouraged by the positive reception for the book
– published in 1969 – among critics and the
American public, as well as the attendant impact
on literary production at the time, Angelou went
on to publish five additional autobiographies and
more books of poetry.
The poet wrote children’s literature and acted in a
few movies, including Alex Haley’s ‘Roots’ – in
which she played Kunta Kinte’s grandma and
afterwards, earned a nomination for an award.
Angelou’s poetry assumed a different dimension
when she read one of her major poems, titled ‘On
the Pulse of Morning’ during the swearing-in
ceremony of former President Bill Clinton in 1993.
Also, she wrote a number of essays and once
directed a movie titled, Down in the Delta .