Black Queer Poet, Icon & Revolutionary, Nikki Giovanni Dies at 81
(December 9, 2024) - Born Yolanda Cornelia Giovanni, Jr., on June 7, 1943, in Knoxville, Tenn., Nikki Giovanni’s mastery of language, narration of a movement and sheer brilliance will forever carve her place in history. Battling her third bout of cancer, Giovanni passed on December 9, 2024. Giovanni leaves a lifetime of art and words that unapologetically describe the struggle, intersectionality, longing, race and revolution. She was above all else and before it was en vogue, authentic, raw and unapologetically Black. Nikki famously said in an interview with Rachel Martin that she didn’t care about her legacy but there were moments that made her proud,
“Oh, there are moments that I feel proud because I've worked hard. And when I went to the opening of the African American Museum in D.C, I had forgotten we gave permission to use my poetry. And when I turned a corner, there was a photograph of me. And it brought tears to my eyes. And I turned over my shoulder and said, "Look, grandmother, I did my duty." And that still amazes me. It's like she was there. I did my duty and that's what matters to me.”
Nikki Giovanni’s first published poetry collection, Black Feeling Black Talk in 1968 established her place in the Activist/Artist movement. She went on to teach and write (below), contributing works considered masterpieces in the writing community. Her 1973 interview with legend James Baldwin is legendary.
Nikki Giovanni was 81.
Poetry
Black Feeling, Black Talk (1968)
Black Judgement (1968)
Re: Creation (1970)
Black Feeling, Black Talk/Black Judgement (contains Black Feeling, Black Talk and Black Judgement) (1970)
My House (1972)
The Women and The Men (1975)
Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day (1978)
Woman (1978)
Those Who Ride The Night Winds (1983)
Knoxville, Tennessee (1994)
The Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni (1996)
Love Poems (1997)
Blues: For All the Changes (1999)
Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea: Poems and Not Quite Poems (2002)
The Prosaic Soul of Nikki Giovanni (2003)
The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni: 1968-1998 (2003)
Acolytes (2007)
Bicycles: Love Poems (2009)
100 Best African American Poems (2010) [editor]
Chasing Utopia: A Hybrid (2013)
A Good Cry: What We Learn From Tears and Laughter (2017)
Make Me Rain (2020)
Children’s Books
Spin a Soft Black Song (1971)
Ego-Tripping and Other Poems For Young People (1973)
Vacation Time: Poems for Children (1980)
Ego-Tripping and Other Poems for Young People Revised Edition (1993)
The Genie in The Jar (1996)
The Sun Is So Quiet (1996)
The Girls in the Circle (Just for You!) (2004)
Rosa (2005)
Poetry Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat (2005) [advisory editor]
Lincoln and Douglass: An American Friendship (2008)
Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat (2008)
The Grasshopper's Song: An Aesop's Fable (2008)
I Am Loved (2018)
A Library (2022) Illustrated by Erin K. Robinson