Nikki GiovannI Memorial Cover

Dubbed by literary critics "the princess of Black poetry," Nikki Giovanni (June 7, 1943 - December 9, 2024) was an acclaimed poet, activist, and intellectual who rose to fame in the 1970s as a star of the Black Arts Movement. Born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni Jr. Knoxville, Tennessee, her first books of poetry Black Judgement and Black Feeling, Black Talk, were self-published in 1968.  She wrote poetry for children as well as adults, and she penned essays and made recordings. Giovanni also taught, first at Rutgers University and Queens College, and then at Virginia
Tech from 1987 until her 2022 retirement. She was still writing at the end of her life; her final work, titled The Last Book, is A
4 D scheduled to come out next year.