Recipes and stories from the much-loved and bestselling author of I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS

'A brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman' BARACK OBAMA

Throughout Maya Angelou's life food has played a pivotal role at important moments. In HALLELUJAH! THE WELCOME TABLE she narrates some of these tales and then gives us recipes for the food that helped shape her memories. There was the time she cooked a cassoulet for M.F.K. Fisher on the very day she moved into her new house in California. Or how her mother made a delicious maple cake for her when she was expelled from school for not being able to speak. Then there's a story about how once Decca (Jessica) Mitford made a delicious chicken - and the recipe is for 'Chicken Drunkard Style'. The recipes cover fried meat pies, caramel cake, Minnesota wild rice, chicken livers and many more. Maya Angelou's kitchen is a social centre, she cooks while she entertains and is renowned for what she serves.

'She moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence and a fierce grace . . . She will always be the rainbow in my clouds' OPRAH WINFREY

'She was important in so many ways. She launched African American women writing in the United States. She was generous to a fault. She had nineteen talents - used ten. And was a real original. There is no duplicate' TONI MORRISON