LAGOS, Nigeris (VOICE OF NAIJA)- American poet and leading voice of the 1960s Black Arts Movement, Nikki Giovanni, is dead.
The 81-year-old author, educator, and public speaker died on Monday in a hospital in Blacksburg, Virginia.
According to reports, the cause was complications from lung cancer, a disease with which she was originally diagnosed in 1995.
“We will forever feel blessed to have shared a legacy and love with our dear cousin,” Allison Ragan, Giovanni’s cousin, said in a statement on behalf of the family.
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“The acclaimed poet, Black Arts Movement icon whose poems of wit, wonder, and wisdom were celebrated in children’s books, on keynote stages and television shows, and in more than two dozen bestselling poetry collections, died peacefully on December 9, 2024, with her life-long partner, Virginia [Ginney] Fowler, by her side,” Renée Watson, a fellow writer and friend of Giovanni, wrote in an announcement.
The poet, real name Yolande Cornelia Giovanni, Jr., was born on June 7, 1943, in Knoxville. She started to gain attention in the late 1960s as part of the Black Arts Movement after she graduated from Fisk University in Nashville.
At the varsity, she met several black literary figures including Amiri Baraka and Dudley Randal before studying poetry at Columbia University School of the Arts.
Giovanni released over 30 books, including her 1971 autobiography ‘Gemini’ and spoken word albums and works for children.
She won several awards throughout her career, including the Langston Hughes Medal, the Maya Angelou Lifetime Achievement Award, seven NAACP Image Awards, and 31 honorary doctorates.
She received a Grammy Best Spoken Word Album nomination for ‘The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection’ in 2004. She was awarded an Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking for ‘Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project’ in 2024.
