Virago Maya Angelou 9 Books Collection Set

This nine-book collection brings together a range of Maya Angelou’s autobiographical writing, essays and poetry. Across the set, Angelou writes about work, family, travel and creativity, as well as her experiences within wider cultural and political movements.

The selection includes volumes that follow Angelou as a young mother in California, later immersing herself in the world of Black writers and artists in Harlem, and travelling to Ghana. Alongside the autobiographies, the set also features a book of letters and a poetry collection, with poems that speak of love, longing and partings, as well as Saturday night partying.

Included titles

• Gather Together In My Name
• Letter To My Daughter
• And Still I Rise
• Mom and Me and Mom
• The Heart Of A Woman
• A Song Flung Up to Heaven
• All God's Children Need Travelling Shoes
• I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
• Singin' & Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas

Key details

• Nine-book collection set
• Works by Maya Angelou
• Includes autobiographical volumes, letters and poetry
• Publisher: Virago

Synopses

Gather Together In My Name

Angelou is a young mother in California, unemployed and moving through brief affairs and transient work in shops and night-clubs. The account also describes her turning to prostitution and the world of narcotics.

Letter To My Daughter

Angelou reflects on her path to living well and living a life with meaning. Told in her own style, the book is described as transcending genres and categories.

And Still I Rise

A poetry collection described as lyrical and dramatic, exuberant and playful. The poems speak of love, longing and partings, and of Saturday night partying.

Mom and Me and Mom

Angelou details what led her mother to send her away. She also explores the emotions she experienced long afterwards as a result.

The Heart Of A Woman

This autobiography places Angelou among Black writers and artists in Harlem. It also describes her work in the civil rights movement with Martin Luther King.

A Song Flung Up to Heaven

Set in 1964, Angelou is on her way back home. She leaves behind her beloved, now seriously teenage, son Guy to finish university in Ghana.

All God's Children Need Travelling Shoes

Angelou emigrates to Ghana and discovers that “you can’t go home again”. The book describes her coming to a new awareness of love and friendship, civil rights and slavery.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

Includes Angelou’s statement: “I write about being a Black American woman, however, I am always talking about what it’s like to be a human being.”

Singin' & Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas

This volume focuses on music and Angelou’s son. These are presented as central to her life in this part of the story.