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General Information

Bio

Nikki Giovanni (1943-2024) Poet, activist, writer, commentator, educator. Nikki Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and died in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Full Name

Nikki Giovanni

Locations

New YorkQueens

Author's Timeline


1943

Birth

Nikki Giovanni was born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni Jr. in Knoxville, Tennessee, on June 7, 1943.

1960s

Other Life Event

New York County: Ms. Giovanni briefly attended Columbia University School of the Arts in the late 1960s.

1968

Literary Work

Black Judgment
Broadside Lotus Press
0910296316 / 978-0910296311
Poetry.

1971

Literary Work

Black Feeling Black Talk
Harper Perennial
068825294X / 978-0688252946
Collection of poetry.

1971

Literary Work

Gemini: An Extended Autobiographical Statement on My First Twenty-Five Years of Being a Black Poet
Bobbs-Merrill Company
Memoir.

0000

Other Life Event

Queens County: Ms. Giovanni taught at Queens College in Queens, New York, for a time.

1996

Literary Work

The Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni
William Morrow
0688140475 / 978-0688140472
Poetry.

1997

Literary Work

Love Poems
William Morrow
0688149898 / 978-0688149895
Poetry.

2002

Literary Work

Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea: Poems and Not Quite Poems
William Morrow
0060099526 / 978-0060099527
Poetry.

2003

Literary Work

The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni: 1968-1998
William Morrow
0060541334 / 978-0060541330
Poetry.

2017

Literary Work

A Good Cry: What We Learn From Tears and Laughter
William Morrow
0062399454 / 978-0062399458
Poetry.

2020

Literary Work

Make Me Rain: Poems & Prose
William Morrow
0062995286 / 978-0062995285
Poetry and prose.

2024

Death

Nikki Giovanni died in a hospital in Blacksburg, Virginia, on December 9, 2024.

2025

Literary Work

The New Book: Poems, Letters, Blurbs, and Things
William Morrow
0063447525 / 978-0063447523
Collection of short writings.

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