Maya Angelou accepts Mailer Center award

October 18, 2013 05:30 pm | Updated November 17, 2021 02:43 am IST - New York

Her body weak, her voice rich and strong, Maya Angelou sang, lectured and reminisced as she accepted a lifetime achievement award Thursday night from the Norman Mailer Center.

The 85—year—old author, poet, dancer and actress was honored during a benefit gala at the New York Public Library, the annual gathering organized by the Mailer Center and writers colony. Seated in a wheelchair, she was a vivid presence in dark glasses and a sparkling black dress as she marveled that a girl from a segregated Arkansas village could grow up to become a literary star.

“Imagine it,” she said, “a town so prejudiced black people couldn’t even eat vanilla ice cream.”

Angelou was introduced by her former editor at Random House, Robert Loomis, and she praised him for talking her into writing her breakthrough memoir, the million—selling “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” The key was suggesting to her that the book might be too hard to write.

The people who knew her best, she explained, understood that “if you want to get Maya Angelou to do so something, tell her she can’t.”

Angelou, a longtime resident of North Carolina, will be back in Manhattan next month to collect an honorary National Book Award medal.

Pulitzer Prize—winning novelist Junot Diaz and the late author—journalist Michael Hastings also received prizes Thursday. Hastings’ widow, Elise, teared up as she accepted a journalism award on behalf of her husband, who died in a car accident last summer at age 33.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.