A survivor of lung cancer in 1998, Nikki Giovanni has a lot to say about life and she’s been saying it for over 40 years. Born on June 7, 1943, Nikki just missed being a “baby boomer” by two years. She’s been a radical political activist and spokesperson for racial equality, a single mom and an educator, currently employed as an English professor at Virginia Tech. Nikki is an imaginative and highly intelligent black woman, who has lived the struggle and who pours out her heart and soul in her writings.
Nikki’s poems are colorfully expressive. For instance, the following lines come from her “Kidnap Poem:” “lyric you in lilacs, dash you in the rain, blend into the beach,” and “wrap you in the red Black green.” It’s this type of imagery that sets her apart as a poetess extraordinaire. She can lift you up with her dreams and she can pull you into her world, like these lines from her “Nikki-Rosa” do: “Childhood rememberances are always a drag if you’re Black. You always remember things like living in Woodlawn with no inside toilet.”
Nikki has several collections of poetry, which reflect her challenges in life – challenges of being an African-American woman in a world dominated by white men and a single mother with dashed hopes and dreams, filled with love and hope for her children. Nikki loves to garden in the fresh air and has an affinity for the blues. Her accomplishments include receiving an NAACP Image Award for her book, “Love Poems,” the Langston Hughes Medal for Outstanding Poetry and being named “Woman of the Year” by three American magazines, “Mademoiselle,” “Ladies’ Home Journal,” and “Essence.”
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