The US poet Nikki Giovanni, who has died aged 81. Photograph: Logan Wallace
Nikki Giovanni, the award-winning US poet who emerged as one of the leading voices of the 1960s Black Arts movement, has died aged 81. She was a poet, author, educator, and public speaker who rose from borrowing money to release her first book to decades as a literary celebrity sharing her blunt and conversational takes on everything from racism and love to space travel and mortality.
Nikki Giovanni at Jackson State college in 1973. Photograph: Jackson State University/Getty Images
Giovanni, whose life and work were highlighted in the 2023 documentary Going to Mars, died on Monday with her partner of many years, Virginia “Ginney” Fowler, by her side. This was confirmed by a statement from her friend, author Renée Watson.
Her cousin, Allison (Pat) Ragan, shared heartfelt words, saying, “We will forever feel blessed to have shared a legacy and love with our dear cousin.”
Over the course of her career, Giovanni authored more than 25 books and became a powerful voice in American literature. Her poetry resonated with fans through her written works and live readings. Giovanni’s poetry collections, such as Black Judgement and Black Feeling Black Talk, achieved commercial success, leading to numerous television appearances, including on The Tonight Show. Her popularity extended beyond the written word; she captivated audiences in large venues, even filling a 3,000-seat concert hall at Lincoln Center to celebrate her 30th birthday.
Giovanni’s works were deeply personal and political. Her poetry reflected on her childhood in Tennessee and Ohio, her support for the Black Power movement, and her battles with cancer. She honored figures like Nina Simone and Angela Davis, while also exploring themes like food, love, family, and space travel, a journey she believed Black women were uniquely suited for due to their resilience. In addition to her poetry, she edited a groundbreaking anthology of Black women poets, Night Comes Softly, and helped establish a publishing cooperative that promoted the works of other literary giants, including Gwendolyn Brooks and Margaret Walker.
Giovanni was known for her contradictions. As her friend Barbara Crosby wrote in the introduction to the 2003 anthology The Prosaic Soul of Nikki Giovanni, “To love her is to love contradiction and conflict. To know her is to never understand but to be sure that all is life.”
Virginia Tech English Professor, Nikki Giovanni speaks closing remarks at a convocation to honor the victims of a shooting rampage at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., on April 17, 2007. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Her influence extended far beyond the literary world. Giovanni was admired by figures such as James Baldwin, Teena Marie, and Oprah Winfrey, the latter inviting her to the “Living Legends” summit in 2005, where other honorees included Rosa Parks and Toni Morrison. In 1973, Giovanni was nominated for a National Book Award for her prose work Gemini, and she also earned a Grammy nomination for the spoken word album The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection.
In 2009, Giovanni wrote a poem for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, expressing hope and unity as the nation prepared for a new chapter.
Giovanni had a son, Thomas Watson Giovanni, born in 1969. Although she never married his father, she spoke openly about her decision not to marry, stating she could afford not to. Later in life, she shared her home with Virginia Fowler, a fellow faculty member at Virginia Tech.
Born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni Jr. in Knoxville, Tennessee, she was given the nickname “Nikki” by her older sister. The family moved to Ohio when she was young, eventually settling in Lincoln Heights, a Black community near Cincinnati. Giovanni’s early years were spent traveling back and forth between Tennessee and Ohio, where she developed a close bond with her grandparents in Knoxville.
As a child, Giovanni was an avid reader, consuming everything from history books to the works of Ayn Rand. She was accepted to Fisk University in Nashville after her junior year of high school, a time marked by both academic success and rebellion. Giovanni eventually graduated with honors in history in 1967 after briefly being expelled for defying the school's rules.
Giovanni's rise to prominence began in 1968 when she published her first collection of poetry, Black Poetry Black Talk, with support from friends. At the height of the Black Arts Movement, she also self-published Black Judgement. Early poems like “A Short Essay of Affirmation Explaining Why” and “Of Liberation” voiced radical calls for social change and self-empowerment. Over time, her political stance softened, but she remained committed to advocating for justice and remembering past struggles. In 2020, Giovanni appeared in a campaign ad for Joe Biden, urging young people to vote and honoring those who fought for voting rights.
One of Giovanni's most famous works, the 1968 poem Nikki-Rosa, declared her right to define her own story, reflecting on her childhood with a mix of pride and joy, despite the challenges she faced. The poem’s closing lines remain a testament to her perspective on Black life:
"and I really hope no white person ever has cause
to write about me
because they never understand
Black love is Black wealth and they'll
probably talk about my hard childhood
and never understand that
all the while I was quite happy."
Giovanni’s legacy is marked by her unwavering voice, her activism, and her deeply personal reflections that touched the hearts of many.
