Nikki Giovanni:
Biographical Information
This information is from Nikki Giovanni, by Virginia C. Fowler (New York: Twayne, 1992), pp.
xiii-xvi.
1943
Yolande Cornelia Giovanni, Jr., born June 7 in Knoxville, Tennessee, second child of
Yolande and Jones Giovanni; family moves to Cincinnati, Ohio, in August.
1957
Moves to Knoxville to live with maternal grandparents, Emma Louvenia and John
Brown Watson; attends Austin High School.
1960
Enrolls as an early entrant in Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee.
1961-1963
Grandfather Watson dies; dismissed from Fisk University in February; returns to
Cincinnati; works at Walgreen's and takes occasional classes at University of
Cincinnati
.
1964
Reenters Fisk University.
1966
Assistant in John O. Killens's writers' workshop at Fisk University.
1967
Receives bachelor of arts, Fisk University; Grandmother Watson dies; organizes first
Cincinnati Black Arts Festival; managing editor of Conversation; attends Detroit
Conference of Unity and Art; enters University of Pennsylvania's School of Social
Work with a Ford Foundation fellowship.
1968
Attends funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr.; moves to New York City; receives grant
from National Foundation of the Arts to attend Columbia University's School of Fine
Arts; publishes Black Feeling, Black Talk.
1969
Publishes Black Judgement with grant received from Harlem Council of the Arts;
gives birth to son, Thomas Watson Giovanni, on August 31; teaches at Queens College
and at Rutgers University.
1970
Establishes NikTom, Ltd., a communications company; edits and publishes Night
Comes Softly, an anthology of poetry by black women; publishes Black Feeling,
Black Talk/Black Judgement, Re: Creation, and "Poem of Angela Yvonne Davis.''
1971
Truth Is On Its Way (record) released; receives Highest Achievement Award trom
Mademoiselle magazine; travels in Europe and Africa; tapes video with James Baldwin
in London; publishes Gemini (autobiographical essays) and Spin A Soft Black Song
(children's poetry).
1972-1980
Helps finance, serves as editorial consultant to, and writes regularly for Encore
American & Worldwide News; gives frequent lectures/poetry readings throughout the.
country, in some years, as many as 200.
1972
Truth receives NATRA's (National Association of Radio and Television Announcers)
Award for Best Spoken Word Album; interviews Margaret Walker in Jackson,
Mississippi; gives poetry recital at Lincoln Center; publishes My House and A
Dialogue: James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni.
1973
Gives poetry recital at New York's Philharmonic Hall; receives one of eight Women of
the Year awards from the Ladies' Home Journal at Washington's Kennedy Center;
visits Africa on a lecture tour sponsored by the Department of State; My House
receives commendation from the American Library Association as one of the best
books of 1973; is given Life Membership and Scroll by The National Council of Negro
Women; publishes Ego Tripping and Other Poems for Young Readers; releases
Like A Ripple On A Pond (record).
1974
Publishes A Poetic Equation: Conversations Between Nikki Giovanni and
Margaret Walker; receives honorary doctorate of humanities from Wilberforce
University, Wilberforce, Ohio.
1975
Publishes The Women and the Men; releases The Way I Feel (record).
1976
Receives Honorary Doctorate of Literature trom Ripon University, Ripon, Wisconsin;
releases Legacies and The Reason I Like Chocolate (records).
1977
Receives honorary doctorate of literature trom the University of Maryland, Princess
Anne Campus.
1978
Publishes Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day; releases record of Cotton Candy on a
Rainy Day; receives honorary doctorate of literature from Smith College, Northampton,
Massachusetts; father has a stroke; moves with son back to Cincinnati.
1978-1987
Makes her home with her parents; shoulders extensive domestic and financial
responsibilities for her family.
1979
Publishes Vacation Time (children's poetry); named an honorary commissioner for the
President's Commission on the International Year of the Child.
1982
Father dies.
1983
Publishes Those Who Ride The Night Winds; named YWCA Woman of the Year
(Cincinnati Chapter).
1984-1985
Visiting Professor of English, Ohio State University, Columbus; her opposition to boycott
of South Africa leads to her being blacklisted by TransAfrica and subsequently to bomb
and death threats.
1985-1987
Professor of Creative Writing, College of Mount Saint Joseph on-the-Ohio.
1985
Receives honorary doctorate of human letters from the College of Mount Saint Joseph;
named to the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame; named Outstanding Woman of Tennessee;
makes European lecture tour for USIA (United States Information Agency).
1986
Receives the Post-Corbett Award (Cincinnati Post); Detroit City Council gives her its
Distinguished Recognition Award; serves as Duncanson Artist-in-Residence at the Taft
Museum of Cincinnati.
1987-1989
Commonwealth Visiting Professor of English, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University, Blacksburg.
1987
Spirit 'To Spirit: T'he Poetry of Nikki Giovanni (PBS film); performs A Signal in
the Land with the Johnson City Symphony orchestra; serves as judge for the Robert F.
Kennedy Memorial Book Award; appointed to a three- year term on the Ohio
Humanities Council.
1988
Publishes Sacred Cows . . . And Other Edibles (essays); named a Cincinnati
bi-Centennial honoree; Spirit To Spirit receives Silver Apple Award from Oakland
Museum Film Festival; Sacred Cows receives the Ohioana Library Award; Vacation
Time receives the Children's Reading Roundtable of Chicago Award; receives honorary
doctorate of humanities from Fisk University.
1989
Accepts permanent position as Professor of English, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and
State University.
1991
Receives honorary doctorate of humane letters from Indiana University, Gary Campus.
1992
Receives honorary doctorate of humane letters from Otterbein College, Westerville,
Ohio.
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This information is from Nikki Giovanni, by Virginia C. Fowler (New York: Twayne, 1992), pp. xiii-xvi.
Yolande Cornelia Giovanni, Jr., born June 7 in Knoxville, Tennessee, second child of Yolande and Jones Giovanni; family moves to Cincinnati, Ohio, in August.
1957
Moves to Knoxville to live with maternal grandparents, Emma Louvenia and John Brown Watson; attends Austin High School.
1960
Enrolls as an early entrant in Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee.
1961-1963
Grandfather Watson dies; dismissed from Fisk University in February; returns to Cincinnati; works at Walgreen's and takes occasional classes at University of Cincinnati
. 1964
Reenters Fisk University.
1966
Assistant in John O. Killens's writers' workshop at Fisk University.
1967
Receives bachelor of arts, Fisk University; Grandmother Watson dies; organizes first
Cincinnati Black Arts Festival; managing editor of Conversation; attends Detroit Conference of Unity and Art; enters University of Pennsylvania's School of Social Work with a Ford Foundation fellowship.
1968
Attends funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr.; moves to New York City; receives grant from National Foundation of the Arts to attend Columbia University's School of Fine Arts; publishes Black Feeling, Black Talk.
1969
Publishes Black Judgement with grant received from Harlem Council of the Arts; gives birth to son, Thomas Watson Giovanni, on August 31; teaches at Queens College and at Rutgers University.
1970
Establishes NikTom, Ltd., a communications company; edits and publishes Night Comes Softly, an anthology of poetry by black women; publishes Black Feeling, Black Talk/Black Judgement, Re: Creation, and "Poem of Angela Yvonne Davis.''
1971
Truth Is On Its Way (record) released; receives Highest Achievement Award trom Mademoiselle magazine; travels in Europe and Africa; tapes video with James Baldwin in London; publishes Gemini (autobiographical essays) and Spin A Soft Black Song (children's poetry).
1972-1980
Helps finance, serves as editorial consultant to, and writes regularly for Encore American & Worldwide News; gives frequent lectures/poetry readings throughout the. country, in some years, as many as 200.
1972
Truth receives NATRA's (National Association of Radio and Television Announcers) Award for Best Spoken Word Album; interviews Margaret Walker in Jackson, Mississippi; gives poetry recital at Lincoln Center; publishes My House and A Dialogue: James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni.
1973
Gives poetry recital at New York's Philharmonic Hall; receives one of eight Women of the Year awards from the Ladies' Home Journal at Washington's Kennedy Center; visits Africa on a lecture tour sponsored by the Department of State; My House receives commendation from the American Library Association as one of the best books of 1973; is given Life Membership and Scroll by The National Council of Negro Women; publishes Ego Tripping and Other Poems for Young Readers; releases Like A Ripple On A Pond (record).
1974
Publishes A Poetic Equation: Conversations Between Nikki Giovanni and Margaret Walker; receives honorary doctorate of humanities from Wilberforce University, Wilberforce, Ohio.
1975
Publishes The Women and the Men; releases The Way I Feel (record).
1976
Receives Honorary Doctorate of Literature trom Ripon University, Ripon, Wisconsin; releases Legacies and The Reason I Like Chocolate (records).
1977
Receives honorary doctorate of literature trom the University of Maryland, Princess Anne Campus.
1978
Publishes Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day; releases record of Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day; receives honorary doctorate of literature from Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts; father has a stroke; moves with son back to Cincinnati.
1978-1987
Makes her home with her parents; shoulders extensive domestic and financial responsibilities for her family.
1979
Publishes Vacation Time (children's poetry); named an honorary commissioner for the President's Commission on the International Year of the Child.
1982
Father dies.
1983
Publishes Those Who Ride The Night Winds; named YWCA Woman of the Year (Cincinnati Chapter).
1984-1985
Visiting Professor of English, Ohio State University, Columbus; her opposition to boycott of South Africa leads to her being blacklisted by TransAfrica and subsequently to bomb and death threats.
1985-1987
Professor of Creative Writing, College of Mount Saint Joseph on-the-Ohio.
1985
Receives honorary doctorate of human letters from the College of Mount Saint Joseph; named to the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame; named Outstanding Woman of Tennessee; makes European lecture tour for USIA (United States Information Agency).
1986
Receives the Post-Corbett Award (Cincinnati Post); Detroit City Council gives her its Distinguished Recognition Award; serves as Duncanson Artist-in-Residence at the Taft Museum of Cincinnati.
1987-1989
Commonwealth Visiting Professor of English, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg.
1987
Spirit 'To Spirit: T'he Poetry of Nikki Giovanni (PBS film); performs A Signal in the Land with the Johnson City Symphony orchestra; serves as judge for the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Book Award; appointed to a three- year term on the Ohio Humanities Council.
1988
Publishes Sacred Cows . . . And Other Edibles (essays); named a Cincinnati bi-Centennial honoree; Spirit To Spirit receives Silver Apple Award from Oakland Museum Film Festival; Sacred Cows receives the Ohioana Library Award; Vacation Time receives the Children's Reading Roundtable of Chicago Award; receives honorary doctorate of humanities from Fisk University.
1989
Accepts permanent position as Professor of English, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
1991
Receives honorary doctorate of humane letters from Indiana University, Gary Campus.
1992
Receives honorary doctorate of humane letters from Otterbein College, Westerville, Ohio.
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