We’ve lost another great with the passing of poet Nikki Giovanni. As a prominent figure of the Black Arts & Civil Rights Movements she became friends with Rosa Parks, Aretha Franklin, James Baldwin & Nina Simone as she inspired generations of students, artists, activists, musicians, scholars & our LGBTQ community both young & old. One of her infamous quotes is so timely right now as Giovanni stated, “If now isn’t a good time for the truth I don’t see when we’ll get to it.” She was the recipient of hundreds of awards & honors including a 2024 Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking for Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project. Diane Anderson Minshall concluded, “I haven’t spoken with Nikki in nearly a decade but in the 1990s I was so inspired by her words around resilience & justice & life I was thrilled to meet her at a conference & later interview her. She once said (I paraphrase) ‘you aren’t dead until no one remembers you.’ I can say that it’ll take quite some time for the generations alive to forget her. RIP Nikki Giovanni.” Having battled cancer twice Giovanni refused to let a third bout interrupt her art. Just three weeks ago she performed with saxophonist Javon Jackson at the Louis Armstrong House in NYC. Her forthcoming book of poetry “The Last Book” will be published in fall 2025. Born Yolande Cornelia “Nikki” Giovanni in Knoxville, Tennessee on June 7, 1943 she served as a University Distinguished Professor in the English Department at Virginia Tech until 2022. She died peacefully with her wife Virginia (Ginney) Fowler by her side.
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