大象传媒

First broadcast in 2005, Maya Angelou talks about her autobiography and early life for World Book Club.

I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings - about Maya's childhood growing up in the Deep South of the US - is a story about trauma, racism, God - and a love of reading.

The most chilling passages in the book detail the time she was raped by her mother's boyfriend when she was seven. She told her family what had happened, the man was arrested, tried, released from jail and shortly afterwards murdered - probably by her extended family.

When she heard about his death, she felt "My voice killed him. I killed that man because I told his name." For the next five years she didn't speak because "My voice might just kill anybody".

She answers questions about how she was able to write about such a traumatic time in her life:

"You must value every year. Every error, every condition that you experience. None is more valuable than the other."

Picture: Maya Angelou, Credit: Getty Images

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