Truth Is on the Way

Nikki Giovanni

Monday, 18 Apr 2011 at 7:00 pm – Great Hall, Memorial Union

Nikki Giovanni, a product of the 1960s Black Arts Movement, remains one of America's most distinguished and widely read African American poets, authors, and essayists. Her outspokenness has spanned a quarter century, and the human rights activist remains as determined and committed as ever to fighting for civil rights and equality in education. All but one of Giovanni's twenty books remains in print. They include Black Feeling, Black Talk; Black Judgment; and the 2003 releases, The Collected Poems of Nikki Giovanni: 1968-1998 and The Prosaic Soul of Nikki Giovanni. She is currently on the faculty at Virginia Tech, where she is a University Distinguished Professor. She is also a lung cancer survivor and a contributor to the book Breaking the Silence: Inspirational Stories of Black Cancer Survivors.

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Nikki Giovanni is a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, and the author of some 30 books for both adults and children.

She graduated with honors from Fisk University, her grandfather's alma mater, in 1968; after graduating from Fisk, she attended the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University. She published her first book of poetry, Black Feeling Black Talk, in 1968, and within the next year published a second book, thus launching her career as a writer.

Many of Giovanni's books have received honors and awards. Her autobiography, Gemini, was a finalist for the National Book Award; Love Poems, Blues: For All the Changes, Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea, Acolytes, and Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat were all honored with NAACP Image Awards. Blues: For All the Changes reached #4 on the Los Angeles Times Bestseller list, a rare achievement for a book of poems. Most recently, her children's picture book Rosa, about the civil rights legend Rosa Parks, became a Caldecott Honors Book, and Bryan Collier, the illustrator, was given the Coretta Scott King award for best illustration. Rosa also reached #3 on The New York Times Bestseller list. Shortly after its release, Bicycles: Love Poems reached #1 on Amazon.com for Poetry.

Giovanni's spoken word recordings have also achieved widespread recognition and honors. Her album Truth Is On Its Way, on which she reads her poetry against a background of gospel music, was a top 100 album and received the Best Spoken Word Album given by the National Association of Radio and Television Announcers. Her Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection, on which she reads and talks about her poetry, was one of five finalists for a Grammy Award.

The recipient of some twenty-five honorary degrees, she has been named Woman of the Year by Mademoiselle Magazine, The Ladies Home Journal, and Ebony Magazine. She was tapped for the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame and named an Outstanding Woman of Tennessee. Giovanni has also received Governor's Awards from both Tennessee and Virginia. She was the first recipient of the Rosa L. Parks Woman of Courage Award, and she has also been awarded the Langston Hughes Medal for poetry. She is an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and has received Life Membership and Scroll from The National Council of Negro Women. A member of PEN, she was honored for her life and career by The History Makers. She has received the keys to more than two dozen cities. A scientist who admires her work even named a new species of bat he discovered for her. Black Enterprise named her a Women of Power Legacy Award winner for work that expands opportunities for other women of color.

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This lecture was made possible in part by the generosity of F. Wendell Miller, who left his entire estate jointly to Iowa State University and the University of Iowa. Mr. Miller, who died in 1995 at age 97, was born in Altoona, Illinois, grew up in Rockwell City, graduated from Grinnell College and Harvard Law School and practiced law in Des Moines and Chicago before returning to Rockwell City to manage his family's farm holdings and to practice law. His will helped to establish the F. Wendell Miller Trust, the annual earnings on which, in part, helped to support this activity.

Cosponsored By:

• African & African American Studies Program
• Black Graduate Student Association
• Black Student Alliance
• Carver Academy
• Delta Sigma Theta
• English
• Iota Iota Iota Women's Studies Honorary
• LAS Miller Lecture Fund
• MFA Program in Creative Writing and Environment
• Margaret Sloss Women's Center
• Sister Circle
• Women's Studies Program
• YWCA Ames-ISU
• Committee on Lectures (funded by Student Government)