By Colby Carrington
She’s been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the country’s highest civilian honor. She’s won three Grammys for best spoken word album. She’s won a National Medal of Arts and has over 30 honorary degrees.
Now, the book world is finally honoring literary legend Dr. Maya Angelou. The National Book Foundation announced that the 85 year old will be the 2013 recipient of the Literarian Award, an honorary National Book Award for contributions to the literary community.
According to the Associated Press
Angelou said she couldn’t wait to be in the same room as “some very big names in the literary world” and that the Literarian prize made her feel that she was “picking in high cotton.”
The foundation’s executive director, Harold Augenbraum, said in a statement. “She has been on the front lines of history and the fight for social justice and decade after decade remains a symbol of the redemptive power of literature in the contemporary world.”
To borrow from her most famous work – I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – “Preach it, I say preach it.”
