Speaker Profile Thumbnail for Nikki Giovanni

Keynote Speaker: Poet, Educator & Best-Selling Author

Nikki Giovanni Speaking Fee: $10,000 to $20,000

Keynote Speaker: Poet, Educator & Best-Selling Author

Speaker Profile Thumbnail for Nikki Giovanni
Speaking Fee:
$10,000 to $20,000

Travels From:
Available Upon Request

Primary Topic Category:
Inspiration / Motivation / Overcoming Obstacles

Secondary Topic Category:
African American & Black

 

Nikki Giovanni Speaker Profile: At A Glance

Poet Nikki Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on June 7, 1943. Although she grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, she and her sister returned to Knoxville each summer to visit their grandparents. Nikki graduated with honors in history from her grandfather's alma mater, Fisk University. Since 1987, she has been on the faculty at Virginia Tech, where she is a University Distinguished Professor.

Nikki Giovanni is not only a world-renowned poet, but also one of America’s most widely read poets. The author of some thirty books for children as well as adults, she is the recipient of many awards and honors, including seven N.A.A.C.P. Image Awards, the first Rosa Parks Woman of Courage Award, the Langston Hughes Medal for Poetry, the Carl Sandburg Literary Award, and, most recently, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. She was named one of twenty-five Living Legends by Oprah Winfrey, has been given the keys to more than two dozen cities, and awarded thirty-one honorary doctorates by universities across the country.
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