Nikki Giovanni (1996)

Nikki Giovanni’s passion for the rhythm and blues of the African American community has helped to shape her poetry. Giovanni’s first volume of poetry, Black Feeling, Black Talk (1968), was followed closely by Black Feeling, Black Talk, Black Judgment. These early works established Giovanni as a special voice within the Black Power movement.  A collection of her essays was published in Gemini: An Extended Autobiographical Statement on My First Twenty-Five years of Being a Black Poet (1971). Over her long career, Nikki Giovanni has written for children, notably Ego Tripping and Other poems for Children (1971) and The Sun is So Quiet (1996). After battling cancer, she wrote the introduction to Breaking the Silence: Inspirational Stories of Black Cancer Survivors (Karin Stanford, 2005).  Her life and work have made Nikki Giovanni a cultural icon and a spokeswoman for the aspirations and racial sensitivities of African Americans for decades. Her latest poems are gathered in Acolytes (2007).