Nikki Giovanni

Nikki Giovanni
Award
  • Caldecott Honor Book
  • Coretta Scott King Medal for Illustrators

Nikki Giovanni has written many books of poetry for children and adults. She is the author of Rosa, a Caldecott Honor book, Lincoln and Douglass, The Genie in the Jar, and Ego-tripping and Other Poems for Young People. Giovanni calls herself, "a Black American, a daughter, a mother, a professor of English."  She was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and grew up in Lincoln Heights, an all-black suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio. She studied at Fisk University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia University.
 
She published her first book of poetry, Black Feeling Black Talk, in 1968, and since then has become one of America’s most widely read poets. Oprah Winfrey named her as one of her twenty-five “Living Legends.” Her autobiography Gemini was a finalist for the National Book Award, and several of her books have received NAACP Image Awards. She has received some twenty-five honorary degrees, been named Woman of the Year by Mademoiselle Magazine, The Ladies Home Journal and Ebony, was the first recipient of the Rosa L. Parks Woman of Courage Award, and has been awarded the Langston Hughes Medal for poetry.
 
Nikki Giovanni lives in Christiansburg, Virginia, where she is a professor of English at Virginia Polytechnic Institute.


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books
by the author

Lincoln and Douglass
Lincoln and Douglass

Nikki Giovanni; illustrations by Bryan Collier
Henry Holt and Co.

Our 16th president is known for many things: He delivered the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address.He was tall and skinny and notoriously...


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Rosa
Rosa

Nikki Giovanni; Illustrated by Bryan Collier
Square Fish

Winner of the Caldecott Honor Medal and the Coretta Scott King Medal, this picture book tribute to Rosa Parks celebrates the 50th anniversary of her refusal to...


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Grand Fathers
Grand Fathers

Nikki Giovanni
Henry Holt and Co.

Grandfathers are family treasures. Here, in more than forty reminiscences, poems, photos, and recipes, we all get to sit on the porch and listen to their wise...


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The Genie in the Jar
The Genie in the Jar

written by Nikki Giovanni; illustrated by Chris Raschka
Henry Holt and Co.

Nikki Giovanni spins her words into beautiful images of black songs and black looms, and inspires us all to trust our own hearts.


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The Sun Is So Quiet
The Sun Is So Quiet

Nikki Giovanni; Illustrated by Ashley Bryan
Henry Holt and Co.

"Quiet . . . like a quilt on a feather bed . . . and frost on the window . . . we write our names knowing . . . the sun will melt them off But the sun...


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Grand Mothers
Grand Mothers

Edited by Nikki Giovanni
Henry Holt and Co.

"While contributions from established writers....act as lures, the real treasure here are offered by relatively unkown authors. A diverse and moving...


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Shimmy Shimmy Shimmy Like My Sister Kate
Shimmy Shimmy Shimmy Like My Sister Kate

Nikki Giovanni
Henry Holt and Co.

A remarkable collection of poetry from the Harlem Renaissance and beyond, stitched together with commentary from Giovanni.... An important resource for those...


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Spin a Soft Black Song
Spin a Soft Black Song

Nikki Giovanni; Illustrated by George Martins
Sunburst Paperbacks

A favorite collection of thirty-five poems for and about black children celebrates the energy and joy of life. "Martins' black-and-white drawings exude...


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