Did you know this is the first book in a seven-volume series? “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” is the autobiography of writer and poet Maya Angelou, with a special focus on her troubled childhood in the southern United States of America.

Published in 1969, this book was critically acclaimed, and today it is as current as ever. Maya Angelou needs no introduction – the most attentive, surely remember this is not the first time we have brought Maya Angelou to the Book Club! - activist, writer, and poet, it is in this series that she sees her impressive life path eternalized.

This is a book that we can’t fail to recommend, not only for the biographical aspect and the open window on such an exciting life, but also for portraying such important themes as the dichotomy between classes, genders, and races.

We do not want to spoil the surprises of this reading and, therefore, we will try to save the most impactful moments for the debates in the groups of the Book Club... But we wanted to share with you some interesting facts.

• The book begins with the first years of Angelou's life and ends by the time she finishes high school.
• Raised by her grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas, always with her brother nearby, Maya Angelou lived the scourge of slavery closely. Daily, in her grandmother's shop, she lived around the slaves, who arrived in stained clothes, faces, and hands, from working in the cotton fields.
• The title is an allusion to the “caged bird” in the poem about slavery by author Paul Laurence Dunbar's.

It is impossible to be indifferent to this reality (which seems so distant and is, in fact, less than a hundred years away from our time!), as well as other episodes portrayed with the characteristic coldness of someone who suffered in her own skin because of her skin. Over the years described by Maya Angelou, we followed the life of the activist at a young age and were not indifferent to her path.

And the rest... we want you to discover and discuss with us in the reading groups, available on WhatsApp (HERE) and on Telegram (HERE).