Nikki Giovanni, a renowned literary legend and retired Virginia Tech professor, has completed her final chapter.
Giovanni, along with the late Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger, created the competition in 2006, offering monetary prizes for student poets.
She was a force of nature and our college, Virginia Tech, and the world itself are better for her impact on all of them.” When she retired, she said she would miss talking with Virginia Tech students regularly.
As a sophomore at Virginia Tech, author Kwame Alexander’s first class under Giovanni was advanced poetry.
Gena Chandler, associate chair of the Department of English and associate professor “Nikki was a wonder.
Renowned author and retired professor Nikki Giovanni has finished her last chapter.
The esteemed poet, activist, and Emerita Emeritus University Distinguished Professor died on December 14. nine years after a third battle with cancer. She was eighty-one years old.
Oprah Winfrey named Giovanni one of the 25 living legends. Giovanni taught English for 35 years at Virginia Tech before retiring in 2022.
She nevertheless maintained a rigorous speaking, writing, and travel schedule, even returning to campus in April to give undergraduate students the annual Giovanni-Steger Poetry Prize Award. Giovanni and Charles W., the late president of Virginia Tech. In 2006, Steger founded the contest, which gives student poets cash awards.
During the ceremony at the Moss Arts Center, Giovanni declared, “We can never allow words to be silenced.”. “Words can never be taken away from us. People can’t stop us from speaking because they disagree with what we have to say. The most valuable thing that humans possess are words. And we must never forget to use them, regardless of the circumstance. “.”.
Numerous Hokies can vouch for the impact of Giovanni’s written and spoken words. She has gained international recognition for her poetry, essays, and other written works that explore social issues like gender and race and urge action. She has published at least 11 illustrated children’s books, earned over 30 honorary degrees, and even won an Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking for “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project.”. “”.
“The Last Book,” her most recent poetry collection, is scheduled for release in the fall of 2025.
According to Laura Belmonte, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, “knowing Nikki was to be forever changed by her.”. Every minute, she would say something that would bring you to tears of laughter. The next minute, she would say something that would cause you to rethink your entire perspective on the world and haunt you for months. She was a force of nature, and the world, Virginia Tech, and our college are all better off because of her influence. “”.
She said she would miss having regular conversations with Virginia Tech students after she retired. Teaching students to ask questions and think critically was her ultimate goal as a professor.
“I want my students to look and ask themselves, ‘What kind of sense does this make?’ and ‘what is going to be the end result?’ instead of accepting what they are hearing,” Giovanni stated when she was retiring.
Giovanni put him on the path to success, as one former student who is now an Emmy Award-winning producer and New York Times bestselling author can attest. Author Kwame Alexander’s first class with Giovanni as a sophomore at Virginia Tech was advanced poetry. At first, things didn’t go well.
Alexander remarked, “I was that student who pushed back on everything she offered and argued everything.”. I believed my knowledge of poetry was greater than hers. Nevertheless, she continued to teach me, let me attend her classes, saw my potential, and helped to mold me into the person I am today. “”.
Alexander referred to Giovanni as his literary mother.
He remarked, “She has made me so much better and I’m so grateful.”.
Fowler, her son Thomas Giovanni, her granddaughter Kai Giovanni, and other family members survive Giovanni.
Giovanni’s cousin Allison Ragan, speaking on behalf of her family, said, “We will always feel blessed to have shared a legacy and love with our dear cousin.”.
Virginia Tech faculty, students, and alumni consider Giovanni’s impact.
Will Furrer ’91, an English major and former Hokie quarterback in the NFL.
Giovanni’s classes, according to Furrer, were crucial in assisting him in discovering his voice. She discussed a wide range of subjects in class, including politics, art, and music.
According to Furrer, an executive fellow for strategy at Q2 banking in Austin, Texas, “I believe she was attempting to work the room in a manner that was challenging the way we thought in the past or the way that we would think in the future.”.
Throughout his career, he characterized Giovanni’s incisive inquiries as unceasing voices on his shoulder.
Through these straightforward and portable lessons, Nikki was able to impart her creative genius to a great number of people, according to Furrer.
Senior English teacher Aileen Murphy oversees the Giovanni-Steger Poetry Prize competition each year.
One of the brightest lights in our lives was Nikki Giovanni. In addition to her role as a teacher and colleague, she consistently infused poetry into everyone’s Virginia Tech experience through the poetry prize she co-founded with President Charles Steger. It is encouraged that all undergraduate students, regardless of their field of study, submit a poem for this competition, demonstrating that anyone can create art that highlights, remembers, and celebrates both significant and insignificant life events. The Virginia Tech student experience has many good aspects, but this one speaks to the core of who we are as a school. “.”.
Virginia Tech junior Kelly Barker is majoring in professional and technical writing as well as creative writing.
“When Professor… Whether she was singing, reciting poetry, or cracking jokes, Giovanni was onstage. Her words were always listened to intently by the audience. With just one poem, she could move an audience to tears and laughter as if she were a born performer. Everyone who was fortunate enough to be in her audience was lifted up by her words and works, and her spirit was contagious. “.”.
Amy Price Azano is a professor of rural education and adolescent literacy.
For a one-week camp at Virginia Tech, Azano asked Giovanni to speak and read her poems to middle school students from the state’s rural areas. Giovanni was greeted by the students as if she were a rock star when she entered the room.
“She mesmerized a room of middle schoolers, and I watched in awe,” Azano remarked. Nobody ever speaks the truth to children, and Nikki interacted with them as though they were longtime friends. Every query was taken into consideration. When she revealed that she had recently been a Jeopardy answer, which made her feel famous, we laughed with her. However, the contestant’s response was, “Alice Walker!” On the one hand, the campers were aware that they were in the company of a famous person, but on the other, her humor, humility, and acute kindness made them feel as though they belonged in the same places as she did. “”.
According to her, Giovanni taught the students the importance of being genuine and sharing their own experiences and truth.
Azano stated, “I know she was a part of the world and was, in fact, otherworldly, but she was also ours.”.
Gena Chandler is an associate professor and the associate chair of the Department of English.
“Nikki was amazing. Although she was well-known for being an amazing poet and educator, she was also an even more remarkable person—loving, caring, and compassionate. “”.
