Maya Angelou was an indomitable spirit of great generosity, kindness, and love. Her work, both written and spoken, has inspired, and actually helped, the lives of millions. When I think of tribute, I envision Maya as a kind of General of Compassion, offering an army of words of encouragement. She was special, she was rare, she was more beautiful than perhaps even she realized, because she was, among other things, such an artist, that she could not only create worlds on paper, or in a listener’s imagination, but she also managed, over and over again in her long life, to create and recreate herself.

Read Alice Walker's tribute to Maya Angelou in the Guardian