by Tavis Smiley
First published 2016
Maya Angelou stands in her garden surrounded by caged birds when young Tavis Smiley joins her world in 1986. He is twenty-one, fresh from college, poor, and from a large Midwestern family. She is fifty-eight, celebrated, and invites him to Africa as her bag handler. What begins as a working relationship transforms into something deeper. Angelou becomes his teacher and mother figure. They spend the next twenty-eight years talking about art, politics, history, race, religion, music, love, and purpose. Their conversations happen everywhere: in her gardens, before her lectures, over shared meals. She challenges him, inspires him, and shows him generosity. Most importantly, she teaches him courage. Courage to stay open, chase dreams, and believe in himself. Smiley captures a friendship that shaped both their lives until Angelou's death, revealing how one of America's most influential writers touched the life of a young man who would become a voice in his own right.
Genres: 20th-century, african-american, biography-memoir, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, mentor-mentee
Setting: Africa
Period: 1986
224 pages · Paperback · Little, Brown Paperbacks