{"product_id":"my-journey-with-maya","title":"My Journey with Maya","description":"\u003cp\u003eA remarkable story of friendship, love, and courage.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Maya Angelou and Tavis Smiley met in 1986, he was twenty-one and she was fifty-eight. For the next twenty-eight years, they shared an unlikely, special bond. Angelou was a teacher and a maternal figure to Smiley, and they talked often, of art, politics, history, race, religion, music, love, purpose, and -- more than anything -- courage. Courage to be open, to follow dreams, to believe in oneself.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn My Journey with Maya, Smiley recalls a joyful friendship filled to the brim with sparkling conversation -- in Angelou's gardens surrounded by her caged birds, before lectures, sharing meals, and on breaks from it all, they sought each other out for comfort, advice, and above all else, friendship.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt began when he, a recent college graduate and a poor kid from a big family in the Midwest, was invited to join the revered writer on a sojourn to Africa. He would be handling her bags, but Maya didn't let that stop a friendship waiting to happen. Angelou was generous, challenging, and inspirational. Like a mother to him, she was selfless.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHere Tavis Smiley shares his personal memories of Maya Angelou, of a decades-long friendship with one of history's most fascinating women, one who left as indelible an imprint on American culture as she did on him.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Roots Bookstore \u0026 Market","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47378297323687,"sku":"9780316341776","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0689\/8312\/8231\/files\/9780316341776.jpg?v=1764889271","url":"https:\/\/rootsbookstore.com\/products\/my-journey-with-maya","provider":"Roots Bookstore \u0026 Market","version":"1.0","type":"link"}