Poet, author Giovanni to speak at SU this Wednesday

Author, poet and educator Nikki Giovanni will speak at Southern University on Wednesday, Jan. 30, in the Royal Cotillion Ballroom of the Smith-Brown Memorial Union. The lecture will begin at 7 p.m.
Currently a university distinguished professor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., Giovanni has written and lectured on women’s and civil rights, equality and the black community.
According to the author’s website, her focus is on “the individual, specifically, on the power one has to make a difference in oneself, and thus, in the lives of others.”
Born in Knoxville, Tenn., she graduated with honors from Fisk University in 1968 and then attended The University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University. Her first book of poetry, “Black Feeling Black Talk,” was published in 1968.
“Gemini,” Giovanni’s autobiography, was a finalist for the National Book Award, and works including: “Love Poems,” “Blues: For All the Changes: New Poems,” and “Quilting the Black-Eyed: Pea: Poems and Not Quite Poems” were honored with NAACP Image Awards.
Additionally, her children’s picture book Rosa, about the civil rights legend Rosa Parks, became a Caldecott Honors Book.
Giovanni’s honors and awards include: the first recipient of the Rosa L. Parks Woman of Courage Award; Langston Hughes Medal for poetry; Woman of the Year by Mademoiselle Magazine, The Ladies Home Journal, and Ebony Magazine; Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame; Outstanding Woman of Tennessee; and Governor’s Awards from Tennessee and Virginia.
Giovanni is an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and has received Life Membership and Scroll from The National Council of Negro Women.
Sponsored by Southern’s Motivational Speakers Series and the Association of Women Students (AWS), the event is free and open to the public. A book signing with Giovanni will take place at the conclusion of the event. Copies of Giovanni’s works are available in the Southern University Bookstore.
For more information, visit http://www.nikki-giovanni.com or call Edna Hickman at 225.771.3922.