Nikki Giovanni
Nikki Giovanni is a world-renowned African-American poet, known for her award-winning work and Grammy-nominated poetry album.
Yolande Cornelia Giovanni, Jr.
Poet
June 7, 1943
Gemini
81
Knoxville, Tennessee
Born in 1943, Yolande Cornelia ‘Nikki’ Giovanni Jr. is a renowned African-American poet who has gained worldwide recognition for her work. She has been honored with several awards, such as the Langston Hughes Medal and the NAACP Image Award. Among her most famous works are “Black Feeling, Black Talk,” “Love Poems,” “Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day,” “Gemini: An Extended Autobiographical Statement on My First Thirty Years of Being a Black Poet,” and “The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni.”
In addition to her literary accomplishments, Giovanni has been actively involved in civil rights and social justice activism. She has served as a professor at Virginia Tech, appeared as a commentator on various TV shows, and narrated the PBS documentary series “The Italian Americans.” She also lent her voice to the character Oni in the animated film “Princess and the Frog.” In 2015, Oprah Winfrey named her one of the twenty-five “Living Legends.”
Giovanni’s extensive achievements include a Grammy Award nomination for her poetry album, further solidifying her status as one of the world’s most prominent African-American poets.