Poet. Activist. Educator. Nikki Giovanni, a legend of a woman, has died at the age of 81 from complications due to lung cancer. As a poet, she forced those who read her words to think about and confront hard truths. As an activist, her work paved the way for Black artists to be seen and heard in a way they hadn’t been before. As an educator, she lowered the ladder she climbed so that the next generation could keep climbing. And despite having died, she’s not done yet; her final work, “The Last Book”, will be released posthumously in 2025.
Nikki Giovanni was born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni Jr. on June 7, 1943. She entered our world in Knoxville, Tennessee, and was a prominent voice in the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s and 1970s. Her debut collection of poetry, “Black Feeling Black Talk”, was released in 1968 and directly addressed themes of race and politics. That first book was all it took to firmly establish Giovanni as a significant figure in the literary world. Giovanni authored over 20 books, including children’s literature and essay collections. She won seven NAACP Image Awards, the Langston Hughes Medal, and—if that wasn’t enough—in 2004 she was nominated for a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for “The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection.” She’s been a powerhouse from the get-go, and while her loss is deeply felt, her literary body of work is already leaving echoes in her wake.
Her work as a poet isn’t where her legacy ends, however. Nikki Giovanni was also a fierce activist whose work was a cornerstone of the civil rights movement. Hers was a leading voice in the Black Arts Movement, and she used that voice to advocate for social justice and the empowerment of Black artists. Giovanni founded Niktom Ltd., a publishing cooperative that created a supportive environment and platform for Black women writers. She did this in a time when the publishing world at large tended to ignore the voices of Black women, and by creating a protected space specifically for them, their voices could collectively grow and be heard by those who would have preferred to continue ignoring them.
In case you aren’t yet impressed by this prolific woman, Nikki Giovanni was also an educator. She spent more than 30 years at Virginia Tech, touching the lives of several generations of students. Her work as a teacher and a mentor encouraged students to think critically and become actively engaged in systemic social issues. Her teachings frequently emphasized the importance of cultural identity and the pivotal role that activism plays in shaping meaningful lives—not only for themselves, but for future generations that hadn’t even been born yet.
Giovanni retired from education in 2022 and spent her remaining years focused on making sure that she’d leave a lasting impact on this world through her art—even though she’d already done that. Her final body of work, “The Last Book”, is set to be released in 2025. This book will be released into the world with a flood of emotions as so many will still be deeply grieving her loss. It symbolizes her career, and what better way to honor the legacy of such a profound woman than by releasing a final body of work to a public eager for a final word from their literary matriarch? Giovanni’s surviving family—wife Virginia Fowler, son Thomas, and her granddaughter—are surely looking forward to watching the world embrace the final work of their loving wife, mother, and grandmother.
She may be gone now, but Nikki Giovanni’s life will remain a fierce testimony to the power of the written word and the importance of advocating for the community you love. In her honor, we suggest you take some time today to read some of the work she so passionately created. Rest well, Nikki Giovanni.
