Nikki Giovanni, Date of Birth, Place of Birth
TweetNikki Giovanni
American writer and academic
Date of Birth: 07-Jun-1943
Place of Birth: Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
Profession: writer, poet
Nationality: United States
Zodiac Sign: Gemini 
About Nikki Giovanni
- Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni Jr.
- (born June 7, 1943) is an American poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator.
- One of the world's most well-known African-American poets, her work includes poetry anthologies, poetry recordings, and nonfiction essays, and covers topics ranging from race and social issues to children's literature.
- She has won numerous awards, including the Langston Hughes Medal and the NAACP Image Award.
- She has been nominated for a Grammy Award for her poetry album, The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection.
- Additionally, she has been named as one of Oprah Winfrey's 25 "Living Legends".Giovanni gained initial fame in the late 1960s as one of the foremost authors of the Black Arts Movement.
- Influenced by the Civil Rights Movement and Black Power Movement of the period, her early work provides a strong, militant African-American perspective, leading one writer to dub her the "Poet of the Black Revolution".
- During the 1970s, she began writing children's literature, and co-founded a publishing company, NikTom Ltd, to provide an outlet for other African-American women writers.
- Over subsequent decades, her works discussed social issues, human relationships, and hip hop.
- Poems such as "Knoxville, Tennessee" and "Nikki-Rosa" have been frequently re-published in anthologies and other collections.Giovanni has taught at Queens College, Rutgers, and Ohio State, and is currently a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech.
- Following the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, she delivered a chant-poem at a memorial for the shooting victims.
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