Maya Angelou stamp design, ceremony details revealed

The United States forever stamp honoring poet and author Maya Angelou will be issued April 7, with an 11 a.m. ceremony at the Warner Theater in Washington, D.C.

Admission to the ceremony is free and open to the public, but seating is limited.

The newly revealed stamp design features an oil-on-canvas portrait of Angelou painted in 2013 by Atlanta-based Romanian-born artist Ross Rossin.

The United States Postal Service describes the artwork as a large hyper-realistic painting, part of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery’s collection, where it will be on display through Nov. 1.

The portrait appears at right on the horizontally oriented commemorative stamp. Inscribed at left is "Maya Angelou" in red uppercase letters.

Below the name, in gray lettering, is the quote, "A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song."

According to the Postal Service, the stamp pane includes a short excerpt from Angelou’s book Letter to My Daughter, which reads, "Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud."

The stamp was designed by USPS art director Ethel Kessler.

Because of the great amount of public interest in Maya Angelou, the Postal Service suggests that individuals use the label #MayaForever to share news about the forthcoming stamp on social media. nThe preliminary design for the United States stamp honoring Maya Angelou, which will be issued April 7 in Washington, D.C.

More from Linns.com:

Stamp design glitches? They're a part of collecting history

Monaco celebrates birth of royal twins

New head of stamp services at the U.S. Postal Service to be named soon

USPS announces Water Lilies envelopes details

Vol. 1 of 2016 Scott Standard eCatalogue available

Keep up with all of Linns.com's news and insights by signing up for our free eNewsletters, liking us on Facebook, and following us on Twitter. We're also on Instagram!