Preview

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Maya Angelou: The Autobiographies

By: Maya Angelou
Narrated by: Pippa Bennett-Warner, Indie Gjesdal, full cast
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $20.33

Buy for $20.33

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Six BBC Radio 4 dramatisations of Maya Angelou's evocative, extraordinary memoirs, starring Adjoa Andoh and Pippa Bennett-Warner

The books that make up the life and times of Maya Angelou are among the most beautiful and haunting pieces of autobiography ever written. Joyous, direct and searingly honest, they run the gamut from life-affirming to tragic, and back again.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings charts Maya’s childhood in the Deep South in the 1930s; while Gather Together In My Name recounts her descent into prostitution and narcotics. Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas sees her forging a career in showbusiness, and in The Heart of a Woman, she moves to New York and becomes involved in civil rights. All God’s Children Need Travelling Shoes explores her time in Ghana during the 1960s, and in A Song Flung up to Heaven, she returns to America to work with Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. When tragedy strikes, her friend James Baldwin helps her out of her devastation – and new opportunities beckon for Maya.

Angelou’s memoirs have become modern classics, beloved worldwide, and these stunning dramatisations illuminate her incredible resilience, creativity and power, painting an extraordinary portrait of 20th century black America.

©2019 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2019 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about Maya Angelou: The Autobiographies

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    75
  • 4 Stars
    10
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    73
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    74
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Really Great!

Better than expected story with Stellar performances. Sort of a Fictional Reality - life imitating art.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

That was the best books I never read. Amazing,

Using audible for this autobiography was beyond great. I was intrigued the entire time. I was excited to listen to the story of her life and learned so much. The story was so realistic I was completely immersed at all times. I laughed and cried. I truly loved it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Esqisite and exceptional!

I loved every morsel and meaty story! I can see why Mya Angelou was so loved. She is such a decadent writer 💕

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Poetic songstress & trailblazer

Loved it,
one of the first authors I fell in love with as a teen. I felt as if I walked with her on her journey of life.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I love Maya Angelou

Her life story is so amazing!! I absolutely enjoyed this audible; I didn't want the story to him.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Disappointed greatly

I listened to Maya's "I know why the caged bird sings", the version she narrates herself. I absolutely loved hearing her voice, dialect, pronunciations, and emotions come out in her words, overall adding to the entire feel of the story of her life. But, when I started this series narrated by Pippa, her forced and inauthentic voice and annunciations left a lot to be desired. I am not finishing the download. Moving on to my next selection...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Disappointedly condensed and “performed”

Ms. Angelou’s life doesn’t deserve to be forced into a Reader’s Digest condensed feel. But it’s probably a feature of the staged treatment. And I don’t know if it’s just me or what, but these performed versions of her autobiographies don’t feel true. I’d prefer to hear these simply read. A far cry from Maya Angelou’s voice delivering I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful