Nikki Giovanni
About my poet : Nikki Giovanni
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Nikki Giovanni: Early life
Nikki Giovanni is an African-American poet. She was born on June 7, 1943 in Knoxville, Tennessee, United states. She was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. While she lived in Ohio, she often went back to Knoxville to visit her maternal grandmother. Nikki was influenced to be a poet when her grandmother once said "I come from a long line of storytellers." She was encouraged by several of her school teachers. In 1960, she enrolled in Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee. During that time, she joined many writing clubs. She was the editor of the literary magazine and she joined the Fisk Writers Workshop. Soon in 1969, Nikki graduated with a Bachelor's degree in history. Later on, Nikki went on to graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania and the Columbia University in New York.
Nikki's first poem that she published became pretty popular. It was one of the recognized poems. While she was writing poems, she wanted to raise awareness of the rights of African-Americans. She also wrote a few books. Her books Black feeling and Black talk sold over ten thousand copies in the first year they were published. Another book Black Judgement sold over six thousand copies in 3 months which was almost 6 times the sale level that is expected of a poetry book. For years, Nikki traveled to speaking engagements at universities and collages all around the USA.
In 1969, Nikki became a professor at Rutgers University. That same year, she also gave birth to a boy named Thomas Watson Giovanni. Nikki Giovanni became a single mother. She did not marry the father of her son. She had made several recordings of her poems. A few years later, she wrote a book about her life called "Gemini: An Extended Autobiographical Statement on My First Twenty-five Years of Being a Black Poet" for which she was nominated for the national book award.
(She is still alive today)
Bibliography :
http://www.biography.com/people/nikki-giovanni-9312272#synopsis
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/nikki-giovanni
Nikki Giovanni is an African-American poet. She was born on June 7, 1943 in Knoxville, Tennessee, United states. She was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. While she lived in Ohio, she often went back to Knoxville to visit her maternal grandmother. Nikki was influenced to be a poet when her grandmother once said "I come from a long line of storytellers." She was encouraged by several of her school teachers. In 1960, she enrolled in Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee. During that time, she joined many writing clubs. She was the editor of the literary magazine and she joined the Fisk Writers Workshop. Soon in 1969, Nikki graduated with a Bachelor's degree in history. Later on, Nikki went on to graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania and the Columbia University in New York.
Nikki's first poem that she published became pretty popular. It was one of the recognized poems. While she was writing poems, she wanted to raise awareness of the rights of African-Americans. She also wrote a few books. Her books Black feeling and Black talk sold over ten thousand copies in the first year they were published. Another book Black Judgement sold over six thousand copies in 3 months which was almost 6 times the sale level that is expected of a poetry book. For years, Nikki traveled to speaking engagements at universities and collages all around the USA.
In 1969, Nikki became a professor at Rutgers University. That same year, she also gave birth to a boy named Thomas Watson Giovanni. Nikki Giovanni became a single mother. She did not marry the father of her son. She had made several recordings of her poems. A few years later, she wrote a book about her life called "Gemini: An Extended Autobiographical Statement on My First Twenty-five Years of Being a Black Poet" for which she was nominated for the national book award.
(She is still alive today)
Bibliography :
http://www.biography.com/people/nikki-giovanni-9312272#synopsis
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/nikki-giovanni