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Nikki Giovanni

ニッキ・ジョヴァンニ

Nikki Giovanni

Pen Names: Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni Jr.（Birth name / formal name used in documentation）

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1943-06-07 （Knoxville, Tennessee）
Died
2024-12-09 （Blacksburg, Virginia） age 81
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Knoxville, Tennessee - birthplace / early childhood → Lincoln Heights, Ohio → Wyoming, Ohio → New York City, New York - period of residence/activity → Blacksburg, Virginia - later life / workplace (Virginia Tech)

Career

Occupations
Writer, Poet, Activist, Educator
Active Years
1968-2022
Affiliations
Livingston College, Rutgers University, Queens College, City University of New York, Ohio State University, Virginia Tech, The Wintergreen Women Writers Collective
Memberships
Prince Hall Order of the Eastern Star (member), Delta Sigma Theta (honorary member), National Council of Negro Women (life membership / honors)
Influenced By
James Baldwin, Martin Luther King Jr., Gwendolyn Brooks
Influenced
Younger African-American poets, Generations of spoken-word and performance poets
Nominations
National Book Award (Gemini, 1973), Grammy Award (The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection, 2004)

Education

Fisk University
History
Degree: B.A.
Period: 1960–1967
Year of Graduation: 1967
Country: United States
Entered early as an 'early entrant' (enrolled before finishing high school)
University of Pennsylvania (School of Social Work)
Social Work
Period: 1968（セメスター単位で履修）
Country: United States
Attended a semester toward an MSW; final degree completion unclear
Columbia University (School of the Arts)
Poetry (MFA program)
Period: 短期間在籍（MFA課程）
Country: United States
Privately published early work while attending

Awards

Langston Hughes Medal
1996
Organization: City College of New York
Result: 受賞
NAACP Image Award
2008
Work: Acolytes
Category: Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry
Organization: NAACP
Result: 受賞
NAACP Image Award
2010
Work: Bicycles
Category: Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry
Organization: NAACP
Result: 受賞
Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize
2022
Organization: Poetry Foundation
Result: 受賞
Caldecott Honor
2006
Work: Rosa
Organization: American Library Association (children's literature)
Result: 受賞（作品がオナー受賞）
Grammy Award (nomination)
2004
Work: The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection
Category: Best Spoken Word Album
Organization: The Recording Academy
Result: ノミネート
Presidential Medal of Honor, Dillard University
2010
Organization: Dillard University
Result: 受賞
National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
1968
Organization: National Endowment for the Arts
Result: 受賞
Parents' Choice Award
1996
Work: The Sun Is So Quiet
Organization: Parents' Choice Foundation
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Black Feeling, Black Talk

1968 Poetry collection

An early landmark collection capturing the urgency of the Civil Rights and Black Power era, featuring poems that express Black pride, anger, and communal life.

RaceBlack pridePolitical awakeningFamily

Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea: Poems and Not Quite Poems

2002 Poetry / hybrid

A hybrid collection blending poems and prose, meditating on family, memory, and cultural inheritance with personal and historical reflections.

MemoryFamilyCultural inheritance

Rosa

2005 Children's picture book (biographical)

A children's picture-book biography of Rosa Parks, illustrated by Bryan Collier; the book became a bestseller and received a Caldecott Honor.

Civil rightsCourageHistorical education

The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni: 1968–1998

2003 Collected poems / anthology

A collected volume spanning 1968–1998, bringing together early political pieces and later, more intimate poems.

RaceLoveLossSocial issues

Bibliography

  • Black Feeling, Black Talk (1968)
  • Black Judgement (1968)
  • Re: Creation (1970)
  • Gemini (1971)
  • My House (1972)
  • Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea (2002)
  • Rosa (2005)
  • Acolytes (2007)
  • Bicycles: Love Poems (2009)
  • Chasing Utopia: A Hybrid (2013)
  • A Good Cry (2017)
  • Make Me Rain (2020)

Adaptations

  • Documentary 'Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project' (2023)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Direct, expressive voiceUse of African-American Vernacular English (AAVE)Spoken-word / performance poetry style
Recurring Motifs
Family and memoryRace and identityLove and lossPride in Appalachia / AffrilachiaSocial justice and activism

Health

  • Lung cancer
    1990年代初頭に診断、以後手術と闘病を経て晩年まで影響
    Diagnosed in the early 1990s and underwent multiple surgeries; her illness influenced later work. Died in 2024 from complications related to lung cancer.

Legacy

Nikki Giovanni was a leading poet of the Black Arts Movement and a long-serving activist and educator. Her work—from children's books to public speeches and documentaries—earned wide recognition, numerous awards, and many honorary degrees.

Museums

  • National Museum of African American History and Culture (holds materials) Washington, D.C., United States

Academic Societies

  • Phi Beta Kappa (Delta of Tennessee, Fisk University)
  • National Council of Negro Women (life membership)

In Popular Culture

  • The documentary 'Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project' won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival
  • Named one of Oprah Winfrey's 'Living Legends', reflecting wide cultural recognition

Quotes

  • We are Virginia Tech... We will prevail.
    Source: Virginia Tech convocation chant-poem (April 17, 2007) (2007)
  • Yes We Can / Yes We Can / Yes We Can
    Source: Inaugural poem for Barack Obama commissioned by NPR's All Things Considered (2009)

Trivia

  • A species of bat (Micronycteris giovanniae) was named in her honor in 2007.
  • She held more than two dozen honorary degrees.
  • She received keys to more than two dozen cities.
  • Co-founded the publishing company NikTom Ltd in the 1970s to support Black women writers.