Nikki Giovanni, Revered Poet, Dead At 81
Nikki Giovanni —the bold, beloved, indelible poet, activist, author, and professor— died at age 81 on Monday (Dec. 9) in a Virginia hospital due to complications caused by lung cancer, according to her wife, Virginia C. Fowler.
Giovanni was a pioneer in the Black Arts Movement among the likes of John Oliver Killens, Amiri Baraka, Audre Lorde, Ntozake Shange and Sonia Sanchez.
Per The New York Times, she was born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni Jr. on June 7, 1943, in Knoxville, Tenn., to Yolande Giovanni and Jones “Gus” Giovanni. It was her older sister, Gary Ann, who nicknamed her Nikki. The family moved from Knoxville to Cincinnati not long after she was born. Gus was abusive towards her mother and that along with her mother’s acceptance of his behavior infuriated Nikki.
At age 15, she declared, “I was either going to kill him, or leave,” and later returned to Knoxville to live with her grandparents. She graduated early from Austin High School and went on to attend Fisk University. She was dismissed for often leaving campus without permission among protesting other campus rules. She ultimately graduated with honors and with a Bachelor’s degree in history in 1967 and attended graduate school at University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Work, though she dropped out. She then received a fellowship to study at Columbia University’s School of Fine Arts, but left to pursue writing full-time.
Giovanni self-published her first two books in 1968: Black Feeling Black Talk and Black Judgment. She gave birth to her son, Thomas, the following year. Of her decision, she told Ebony, “I had a baby at 25 because I wanted to have a baby and I could afford to have a baby. I didn’t get married because I didn’t want to get married and I could afford to not get married.”
She’d began lecturing and made regular appearances on Soul! from 1967 through 1972, and had published her memoir, Gemini: An Extended Autobiographical Statement on My First Twenty-Five Years of Being a Black Poet, in 1971.
One of Giovanni’s appearances was a two-hour conversation with James Baldwin that ran as a two-part special. It was described by The New Yorker as “two of the most important artist-intellectuals of the twentieth century were engaged in intimate communion on national television.”
Giovanni held teaching roles at both Rutgers and Queens College before being recruited by Fowler, who was the associate head of the English department at Virginia Tech, back in 1987. Giovanni earned her tenure and also gained a wife. They wed in 2016 and retired in 2022.
Throughout her life, Giovanni earned seven NAACP Image Awards and 31 honorary doctorates. She wrote over 30 books, mostly for children, and three became bestsellers. Her next book, The New Book: Poems, Letters, Blurbs, and Things, will be released in 2025.
She is survived by her wife, son, and a granddaughter. VIBE sends our deepest condolences to the family during this time.
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