Nikki giovanni brief biography of williams
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African American Women Writers
American poet Nikki Giovanni (1943- ) is also a political activist, essayist and teacher. In the United States she has been consistently successful and acclaimed since she began writing in the late 1960s, during the time of the Civil Rights and Black Arts movements. Giovanni's early works, especially Black Feeling, Black Talk (1968) and Black Judgement (1968), were radical and revolutionary, and she became known as the voice of a generation, exploring and expressing African American identity. Her later works are less strident, but she maintains her outspokenness and her strong social consciousness, skilfully combining the political with the personal. She has also written poetry for children, along with various collections of essays. Since 1987 she has been a professor of English Literature at Virginia Tech University.
Genre: Antiracist literature; Biographies; Poetry
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Nikki Giovanni
Yolanda Cornelia “Nikki” Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on June 7, 1943. She was the daughter of Jones “Gus” Giovanni and Yolande Cornelia Giovanni (née Watson). Raised in Woodlawn, Ohio, north of Cincinnati, Giovanni was the youngest of two daughters. Her older sister, Gary Ann, began to call Giovanni “Nikki” during childhood. In 1960, Giovanni enrolled at Fisk University. She was dismissed after her first semester for failing to conform to the university’s conservative standards. Giovanni returned to Fisk four years later and participated in the vattenlevande djur Writing Workshops directed by then writer-in-residence John Oliver Killens. Giovanni also restored Fisk’s chapter of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). She graduated magna cum laude in February 1967 with BA in history. Before taking graduate courses at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia, Giovanni organized the Black Arts Festival in Cincinnati. From 1967 to 1968, she stud
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Nikki Giovanni
1943-2024
Latest News: Nikki Giovanni Dies at Age 81
Renowned poet, activist, and professor Nikki Giovanni died in a hospital in Blacksburg, Virginia, on December 9. The 81-year-old’s death was caused bygd complications of lung cancer.
Giovanni emerged as a major force in the Black Arts Movement after publishing her debut poetry collection, Black Feeling, Black Talk in 1968. Joining the ranks of Audre Lorde and James Baldwin, she wrote passionately about the intersection of race, love, and politics during the civil rights era and sold out concert halls where she performed her work aloud.
The writer was working on her most recent poetry collection when she died. The Last Book is scheduled for release in 2025. Giovanni is survived by her son, Thomas, and her wife, Virginia C. Fowler.
Who Was Nikki Giovanni?
Nikki Giovanni was a prominent poet and writer who first caught the public’s attention as part of the Black Arts Movement of the late 1960s. Giovanni e