Maya Angelou Book Award Winners
Taylor Byas Announced as Winner
Taylor Byas is the winner of the third annual Maya Angelou Book Award for her acclaimed debut poetry collection, I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times. She was named Thursday, October 5, 2023, during the Writers for Readers literary event co-sponsored by the Kansas City Public Library and the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s MFA Program in Creative Writing.
The new national award, established by the Kansas City Public Library, the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and five other Missouri universities, celebrates contemporary writers of poetry and fiction whose works reflect a commitment to social justice and inclusion.
I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times by Taylor Byas explores a Black woman’s journey out of the South Side of Chicago and into adulthood, inspired by the film The Wiz. Byas is a Chicago native currently living in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she is an assistant features editor for The Rumpus and acquisitions poetry editor for Variant Literature.
The award, named for Missouri-born memoirist, poet, and civil rights activist Maya Angelou, is accompanied by a $10,000 stipend. Byas will conduct a speaking tour in Spring 2024 of the six participating universities: UMKC, the University of Missouri-Columbia, Truman State, Missouri State, Southeast Missouri State, and Northwest Missouri State.
Spring Speaking Tour
- Tuesday, April 9 - NWMSU, Maryville | 7:00 p.m. - Reading and Q&A in the Student Union Living Room
- Thursday, April 11 - UMKC, Kansas City | 6:00 p.m. - Cockefair Lecture/KCPL event at Plaza Library
- Friday, April 12 - MSU, Springfield | 7:00 p.m. - Reading at Meyer Library, Room 0101, MSU Campus
- Monday, April 15 - SEMO, Cape Girardeau | 6:30 p.m. - Reading at Catapult Creative House
- Wednesday, April 17 - TSU, Kirksville | 12:00 p.m. - Reading at Student Union Building (SUB) at Truman State University
- Friday, April 19 - MU, Columbia | 12:00 p.m. - Reading and Q&A at Stewart Hall (Parker Auditorium) at University of Missouri
- Saturday, April 20 - Unbound, Columbia
Past Winners
2023 | Poetry
I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times explores a Black woman’s journey out of the South Side of Chicago and into adulthood, inspired by the film, The Wiz. Byas is a Chicago native currently living in Cincinnati, Ohio.
2022 | Fiction
An Ordinary Wonder is about a Nigerian boy’s secret intersex identity and his desire to live as a girl, “highlights the limiting dangers of the gender binary, while also reminding us of the power storytelling has to help us envision a more expansive and inclusive world.”
2021 | Poetry
Moving between English and Arabic, The Wild Fox of Yemen examines the life of a young Muslim woman in New York, half a world away from her roots in Yemen. Almontaser describes it as a love letter to her home country and the people of Yemen.