Poet Nikki Giovanni to speak on ‘Diversity as Art: Art is Diversity’

World-renowned poet, writer, commentator, activist and educator Nikki Giovanni will speak on “Diversity as Art: Art is Diversity” in a free public lecture at East Tennessee State University on Wednesday, April 28, at 7 p.m. in the D.P. Culp University Center’s Martha Street Culp Auditorium.Giovanni, a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, is one of America’s most widely read poets and has over 30 books for adults and children to her credit.

Born in Knoxville and raised in Cincinnati, she graduated with honors from Fisk University, her grandfather’s alma mater, in 1968 and later attended the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia. She launched her career as a writer with her first book, “Black Feeling Black Talk,” in 1968.

She was soon dubbed the “Princess of Black Poetry,” and over the course of more than three decades of publishing and lecturing, she has come to be called both a “national treasure” and one of Oprah Winfrey’s 25 “Living Legends.”

Giovanni has received numerous honors and awards for her books, including a National Book Award, five NAACP Image Awards and a Caldecott Medal. She has also achieved widespread recognition and honors for her recordings, including a Best Spoken Word Album award from the National Association of Radio and Television Announcers for “Truth Is On Its Way” and a Grammy Award nomination for her “Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection.”

Giovanni has received 25 honorary degrees, has been named Woman of the Year by three different magazines, was tapped for the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame and named an Outstanding Woman of Tennessee.

She 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 has been awarded the Langston Hughes Medal for poetry.

In addition, Black Enterprise named her a Women of Power Legacy Award winner for work that expands opportunities for other women of color, and she was commissioned to write an inaugural poem for President Barack Obama.

Giovanni’s lecture is co-sponsored by ETSU’s Diversity Events Committee, Honors College, Student Government Association, Sigma Beta Rho Fraternity and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

Tickets are required. ETSU students, faculty and staff were able to obtain up to four tickets each with ETSU ID April 21 from 8:15 a.m.-4:30 p.m. on the second floor of the Culp Center.

Remaining tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis to the general public on the day of the event beginning at 5 p.m. outside the auditorium.

For more information or special assistance for those with disabilities, contact Jeff Howard, associate dean of students, at 423-439-4210 or howardjs@etsu.edu.