Research Guides: Nikki Giovanni: Biography

Nikki Giovanni (Born on June 7, 1943)

Giovanni graduated from Fisk magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in history during the winter commencement exercises held in early February 1967. Following graduation she returned to Cincinnati but within a few weeks received the news of her beloved grandmother’s death in Knoxville. This event profoundly affected Giovanni, immediately making her ill and also triggering a more far-reaching and longer-lasting anger that would characterize the majority of her early poetry. From her grandmother’s death, Giovanni became more aware of the plight of powerless people in the United States. Her grandmother had been forced to move from her home at 400 Mulvaney Street when an urban renewal project relocated her neighborhood to make way for new commercial development. Continue . . .

Source: Carson, Warren J. “Nikki Giovanni.” Critical Survey of American Literature, Dec. 2016, pp. 1093–1099. From Literary Reference Center Plus database.

Book Collection

Resources

Nikki Giovanni's Official Website Find her biography and works.
The History Makers: Nikki Giovanni See how Nikki Giovanni is related to other HistoryMakers.
A Visit with Nikki Giovanni The article offers information on renowned poet Nikki Giovanni. Topics dicussed include views of Giovanni on various topics like imagination and impact of inagination on creative literary works, mentorship in education, authority of educators in classroom, role of poetry in shaping life of students and need for universities to cultivate skills like generosity and civility in students.
Review: The Complications of Being Nikki Giovanni Journal article review by: Ann Folwell Stanford.
A Talk with Nikki Giovanni Journal article by Lynne Domash, Suzanne Juhasz and Nikki Giovanni.
I Am Loved: Nikki Giovanni’s Poems for Kids Selected and Illustrated by Beloved 94-Year-Old Artist Ashley Bryan. A vibrant ode to the inherent poetry of existence.
Nikki Giovanni Q&A Nikki Giovanni is a poet, writer, activist and educator. Her works cover everything from race and social issues to children’s literature. She has received the Langston Hughes Medal, the Rosa Parks Woman of Courage Award, the NAACP Image Award, more than 20 honorary degrees from national colleges and universities and a Grammy nomination.
Write Around the Corner - Nikki Giovanni We travel to the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, to visit with a living legend and one of America’s most celebrated writers. This scholar, educator, poet, American icon, wonderful cook and space enthusiast talks with us about her life and work.
An Interview with Nikki Giovanni
Conversation: Gloria Naylor and Nikki Giovanni
A Nikki Giovanni Chronology.

From Films On Demand database:

Poet Nikki Giovanni Nikki Giovanni, University Distinguished Professor of English at Virginia Tech, is the author of 27 books. Her work has spanned the themes of love and sex, anger and grief, race, politics, and violence, and in this edition of the Journal, Bill Moyers and Giovanni discuss her book Bicycles: Love Poems. She also reads four poems from it. In addition, Moyers and Simon Johnson, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, examine President Obama’s economic recovery plan, discussing the roots of the crisis, the failures of the finance industry and the Troubled Asset Relief Program, and what may and may not work in the government’s latest attempt to fix the economy. Broadcast date: February 13, 2009. (57 minutes)
Hand-picked Singer Nikki Giovanni reads the poem she wrote for Lena Horne. Horne recalls a band leader's insults and not being allowed to imitate rhythm and blues; she is the most imitated singer in the world.