Maya Angelou: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings 

Original version

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Maya Angelou's Autobiographies

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Factual: Life Stories

Dramatisations of Maya Angelou's evocative and life-affirming autobiographies.

Dramatisations of Maya Angelou's evocative and life-affirming autobiographies, that are amongst the most beautiful, joyous and haunting portraits of 20th-century black America ever

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Adjoa Andoh

Indie Gjedsal

Roshawn Hewitt

Cecilia Noble

Richard Pepple

John Lightbody

Francesca Elise

Pauline Harris

Maya Angelou

Patricia Cumper

Maya Angelou's Autobiographies: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: Episode 1

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Episode 1

BBC Radio 4 - Maya Angelou's Autobiographies, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Episode 1

Maya and her brother Bailey are sent to live with their grandmother in Arkansas.

4 Extra Debut. Iconic debut memoir, beautifully evoking Angelou’s life as a child in America’s Deep South in the 1930s. Stars Adjoa Andoh.

Dramatisation of Maya Angelou's iconic debut memoir. 

This beautiful evocation of her life in the Deep South begins in 1931. 

As an infant Maya and her brother, Bailey are sent to live with their grandmother in Arkansas. Annie, whom they call Momma, runs the only store in the black section of Stamps and becomes the central moral figure in Maya's childhood.

Dramatised in five parts by Patricia Cumper.

Narrator ( Older Maya) ...... Adjoa Andoh
Maya ...... Indie Gjedsal
Bailey ...... Roshawn Hewitt
Momma ...... Cecilia Noble
Uncle Willie ...... Richard Pepple
Steward ...... John Lightbody
Girl ...... Francesca Elise

The books that make up the life and times of Maya Angelou are some of the best, most beautiful and haunting pieces of autobiography written.

They run the gamut from life affirming to tragedy and back again with a tone that is a joyous, direct and searingly honest, and are an extraordinary portrait of 20th-century black America.

Director: Pauline Harris

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2018.

Maya Angelou's Autobiographies: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Dramatisation of Maya Angelou's debut memoir, which charts her childhood.

Dramatisation of Maya Angelou's debut memoir, which charts her childhood. Adapted by Patricia Cumper.

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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

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