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arab observer

In a 2009 interview with Maya Angelou, Guardian writer Gary Younge summed up the American poet's incredible biography in a perfect way:

"To know her life story is to simultaneously wonder what on earth you have been doing with your own life and feel glad that you didn't have to go through half the things she has. Before she hit 40 she had been a professional dancer, prostitute, madam, lecturer, activist, singer, and editor. She had lived in Ghana and Egypt, toured Europe with a dance troupe and settled in pretty much every region of the United States."

Pretty impressive—but that's just the Cliff's Notes version.

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