FAYETTEVILLE - Renowned author Maya Angelou, citing health reasons, won’t be visiting Fayetteville on Friday as planned.
Fayetteville Public Library Executive Director David Johnson announced Tuesday afternoon that the program, “An Evening with Maya Angelou,” has been canceled and won’t be rescheduled. The program was part of the library’s Author Series.
Angelou, 86, described her medical setback as “an unexpected ailment that put me in the hospital.”
“We are disheartened about the decision to cancel, but we understand Dr. Angelou’s health concerns and we wish her a speedy recovery,” Johnson said in a written statement canceling the event.
Ticket holders for the library venues and the UA Hillside Auditorium will be notified via email, Johnson said.
In her email to the library and to her Arkansas relatives and friends, Angelou wrote, “In Arkansas, I learned to trust love, not the romance of it, but the heart of it. In Arkansas I learned to have respect for friendship, to honor it, to trust it and to build it.”
Angelou spent her childhood with her grandmother in Arkansas, who taught her “when you learn, teach, and when you get, give,” she wrote.
Arkansas, Pages 15 on 04/09/2014