Born in 1928, Maya Angelou was a prolific writer but also a singer, a stage performer, an academic and a civil rights activist. Her writing is often pigeon-holed as autobiographical fiction in which the novels and poems she produced are based on her own real-life experiences. That said, Maya Angelou was also a very experienced non-fiction writer. Particularly so when she worked as a journalist in the middle of the twentieth century, covering the decolonisation of both Egypt and Ghana for the American press. As a civil rights activist, she worked with many of the important leaders of the time, including Malcolm X and Doctor Martin Luther King. In her work, there are several recurrent themes which include identity, travel, racism, gender politics and the role of the family.
