Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928 - May 28, 2014) INTERVIEWER James...

Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928 - May 28, 2014)

_INTERVIEWER

_{James Baldwin… said that “when you’re writing you’re trying to find out something you didn’t know.” When you write do you search for something that you didn’t know about yourself or about us?} 

_ANGELOU

_{Yes. When I’m writing, I am trying to find out who I am, who we are, what we’re capable of, how we feel, how we lose and stand up, and go on from darkness into darkness. I’m trying for that. But I’m also trying for the language. I’m trying to see how it can really sound. I really love language. I love it for what it does for us, how it allows us to explain the pain and the glory, the nuances and the delicacies of our existence. And then it allows us to laugh, allows us to show wit. Real wit is shown in language. We need language.}

_{More about the life and works of Maya Angelou}