Nikki Giovanni

Transcript

I’ve always liked the hero. So, heroes excite me, and there are historians who are anti-heroism. They’re always trying to show you why so-and-so isn’t what you thought. But I always liked the people that stood up, and Mrs. Parks had a particular stand that said, “You can make a difference. What you do can make a difference.” And you do it with no expectation. And she always said that.

Again, in my book, I’m not overly stressing that, but she always said she didn’t know who, if anyone, would stand with her. She just knew that it was time for her to stand.

Nikki Giovanni discusses her views on writing about the heroes.

Transcript

I don’t think that children are stupid, and I don’t think that I need to hold back from what I’m trying to say, and so what I do is tell the story. And I’m a big fan of the story. I don’t think I have to talk down to children. I don’t believe in that, and I don’t think that I have to have a hidden meaning there. I think that my job is to tell the story as clearly as I can, and so writing for children is the same as not writing for children, which is why some of my adult poems that I would’ve considered adult poems have become children’s books without changing a word.

Transcript

The poem The Reason I Like Chocolate was actually a bookmark for a children’s book. And, again, I don’t want you think I just sit at home and wait for people to call me, but that happens to be one of the poems that I was simply invited to do — would I like to do a bookmark? And it was like, “Oh, yeah.”

And I tried to think of what would be on that one, I just wanted to be universal. What was exciting to me about that poem is that I’m a fan of Harry Potter. And when Harry Potter first met the Dementors on the train, he didn’t realize it, but they were sucking the joy out - he didn’t know what was going on, but it just really chilled him to the bone, and he passed out. And he wakes up in the hospital, and they’re giving him chocolate, because the antidote to the Dementors is chocolate.

I would put books on par with chocolate, because a good book is delicious.

Transcript

My mother read to us. To my sister and me. We had a set of books called The How and Why Books, which I don’t think they do anymore. It’s like an encyclopedia. And Mommy had bought those, and so we read the poetry there “How would you like to go up in the sky, up in the sky so high?” I always loved Robert Louis Stevenson: “In winter, I get up at night and dress by yellow candlelight. In summer, quite the other way. I have to go to bed by day.” And we used to just read those, and, of course, there’s a point that you memorize them: “Boats sail on the river, ships sail on the sea, but the clouds that sail across the sky are prettier far than these. There are bridges on the river, as pretty as you please, but the bow that bridges heaven and over tops the trees and builds the road from earth to sky are prettier far than these.”

Transcript

The most important thing is that whatever you’re writing should be true to you. So, if it’s funny, you should be laughing. If it’s sad, you should be crying. If it’s a puzzle, you should be puzzled. And so you have to let your emotions flow into whatever it is that you’re writing. I think that’s important.

Transcript

My son read when he was he was an early reader, and I thought, “Okay. But don’t punish him by not reading to him anymore. He reads to you, then you read to him.”

So, he kept his bedtime story until he was five, six years old. Then we started reading the classics together, because I thought that’s the best way to read the classics. You read Peter Pan, and then you go on and you have Treasure Island. You continue. And I think that’s important. And then you’re finding things that you’re doing together.

Biography

A prolific and world-renowned poet, Nikki Giovanni is known for being both outspoken and honest. Her work has been viewed as controversial, lyrical, empowering, and personal. The pride she feels at being an African-American, a daughter, a mother, and an educator add an expressive layer of power and depth to her works, which consists of over two dozen books, including volumes of poetry, illustrated children’s books, and three collections of essays. Among her many honors are 22 honorary doctorates, the NAACP Image Award for Literature, and a 2003 Grammy nomination for her spoken-word CD The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection. She has even been named “Woman of the Year” by Ebony, Mademoiselle, and Ladies Home Journal. Most recently she became the first ever recipient of the Rosa Parks Women of Courage Award.

A Way With Words

Born Yolande Cornelia “Nikki” Giovanni, Jr. in Knoxville, Tennessee, she was raised in Ohio. In 1960, she entered Fisk University where she became involved in both the Writers’ Workshop and the school literary magazine. After receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree, she organized the Black Arts Festival in Cincinnati. In the late 1960s her involvement with the Black Arts movement had a strong impact on her writing, giving it a sometimes controversial political slant. Several years later, her role as a mother impressed itself on her poetry, resulting in the children’s poetry collections, Spin a Soft Black Song (1971), Ego-Tripping (1973), and Vacation Time (1980). Her recent collaboration with illustrator Bryan Collier, Rosa, is a children’s book about Rosa Parks.

Books by this author

Ego-tripping & Other Poems for Young People

Nikki Giovanni

Illustrator:

George Cephas Ford

Age Level:

6-9

There is nothing more important to a child than to feel loved, and this wonderful gathering of poems celebrates exactly that. The illustrations add a flourish of color, shape, and movement, and a visual layering that helps impart the most important message of all to young, old, parent, child, grandparent, and friend alike: You are loved. One page is mirrored, so children reading the book can see exactly who is loved — themselves!

I Am Loved

Nikki Giovanni

Illustrator:

Ashley Bryan

Age Level:

6-9

Published:

2018

Lincoln and Douglass: An American Friendship

Nikki Giovanni

Illustrator:

Bryan Collier

Age Level:

6-9

Genre:

Nonfiction, Biography

Evocative poetry and lovely watercolor artwork brings the Christmas story to life for young readers. Animals from across the ancient Palestinian landscape lumber, gambol, crawl, fly, and parade toward Bethlehem with gifts worthy of the newborn King. Rare ebony wood, a finely tuned harp, mustard and saffron, a zither, apricot cakes, and other treasures are carried to the manger. The animals bow low and join the music of the angels in a welcoming lullaby.

Lullaby for the King

Nikki Giovanni

Illustrator:

Michelle Carlos

Age Level:

6-9

Genre:

Poetry

Published:

2023

Rosa Parks was an ordinary woman who became a hero because she “was not going to give in to that which was wrong.” A catalyst for the famous Montgomery Bus boycott in Alabama, she turned the nation’s attention to a glaring injustice in our society. Powerful illustrations evoke a time before the Civil Rights era and give the reader a glimpse at a person, her impact, and a period in American history.