Nikki Giovanni, the award-winning US poet who emerged as one of the leading voices of the 1960s Black Arts movement, has died aged 81. Giovanni died on Monday following her third cancer diagnosis, her friend, the author Renee Watson, told NPR in a statement.
At 80, I still have a lot of anger': American poet Nikki Giovanni Born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni Jr in 1943 in Knoxville, Tennessee, but dubbed Nikki by her older sister, Giovanni studied at Fisk University in Nashville.
Writing accessible poetry about Black liberation, as well as poetry on love, gender and the small pleasures of family life, Giovanni became a public figure. She appeared on the Black arts show Soul! in conversation with the likes of Baldwin and Muhammad Ali.
Giovanni taught English at Virginia Tech from 1987 until 2022, contributing significantly to education and inspiring countless students through her literary and activist works.
Collection
[
|
...
]