Tag: Nikki Giovanni

The Poetry Break: Nikki Giovanni

She was born in Knoxville and raised in Cincinnati. The poems of Nikki Giovanni reflect her pride as both a black American woman, and an author with deep roots in Appalachia.  She is revered not only for her poetry but for her work as essayist, children’s author, activist, and teacher. The recipient of 7 NAACP Image Awards, the Langston Hughes medal, a Grammy nominee, National Book Award finalist – her achievements are unique and impressive.

"Nikki simply writes poems filled with incredible delights and ecstatic joys, poems which exhibit a fierce hunger for honesty and justice," Harshman said.

Found here from The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni: 1968-1998: 

  • Knoxville, Tennessee 
  • Winter Poem
  • I Wrote A Good Omelet
  • We
  • Poetry

And from Giovanni’s audio CD recording of Harpers Collins Press:

  • The Life I Led
  • For 2 Pac Shakur

Poet Nikki Giovanni Says W.Va. Should Be Celebrated

Poet and activist Nikki Giovanni  loves several things about Appalachia: its defense of freedom, and how the people here know when enough is enough in regards to material wealth.

Giovanni was the Writer-in-Residence for Shepherd University’s 2015 Appalachian Heritage Festival.

Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tennessee on June 7, 1943, but spent most of her early years in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1958, she moved back to Knoxville, where she lived with her grandparents.

She would later go on to receive her undergraduate degree from Fisk University in Nashville and attend graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University.

While growing up, Giovanni experienced segregation and became active in the Civil Rights Movement, which influenced much of her work.

Today, Giovanni lives in Virginia and is a professor at Virginia Tech.

Shepherd University’s Appalachian Heritage Writer-in-Residence is sponsored by the West Virginia Humanities Council and Shepherd’s Appalachian Studies Program.

Shepherd's 20th Annual Appalachian Heritage Festival Hosts Poet Nikki Giovanni

This week Shepherd University is hosting the 20th Annual Appalachian Heritage Festival. Many of the planned festivities surround the 17th Annual Appalachian Heritage Writer-in-Residence.

Shepherd’s Appalachian Heritage Festival began back in 1995, and now twenty years later, it’s still going strong. The festival first started as a way to combat some of the negative stereotypes about West Virginia and Appalachian culture.

This year’s 17th Annual Appalachian Heritage Writer-in-Residence is Nikki Giovanni, a renowned American poet from Knoxville, Tennessee who’s known for her activism in Civil Rights.

There will be many events throughout the remainder of the week, including concerts this weekend with a community gospel sing, a banjo workshop, an old-time string band competition, and more.

Poet Nikki Giovanni will be hosting free lectures and poetry readings throughout the week.

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