UpDate - Vol. 15, No. 26, Page 4
April 4, 1996
Poet Nikki Giovanni anniversary luncheon speaker

     Renowned poet Nikki Giovanni will be the keynote speaker at a
luncheon Saturday, April 13, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the
UD Center for Black Culture. The event also marks the 15th annual
luncheon of the UD Black Alumni Organization.
     The luncheon is scheduled from noon to 2 p.m. in Clayton Hall,
and reservations are due Friday, April 5. Cost is $15 per person.
     Giovanni first came to public attention in the 1960s and has had
a wide-reaching career as a poet whose works often center on race and
gender, especially the lives and struggles of women.
     Her most recent work, Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni, is drawn
from seven of her published volumes and also includes two new works.
She also has recently published Shimmy, Shimmy, Shimmy, Like My Sister
Kate, an anthology of poetry from the Harlem Renaissance and beyond,
for young readers. Along with the poems, the book includes a sense of
the issues and injustices that inspired the writers. She has published
in numerous magazines, recorded volumes of her poetry and written
essays, short stories and reviews.
     Since 1989, Giovanni has been a professor of English at Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University.
     Her long list of honors includes presentation of the keys to more
than a dozen major cities, being named Woman of the Year by
Mademoiselle Magazine and Ladies Home Journal. A member of the Ohio
Women's Hall of Fame, she also was named the Outstanding Woman of
Tennessee.
     She also has been the recipient of the Post Corbett Award, the
Silver Apple Award, McDonald's Literary Achievement Awards, the
Children's Reading Roundtable Award and numerous others. She has been
honored as a featured poet and an artist-in-residence, and several
awards are now given in her name at various institutions.
     For more information or reservations, call 831-2991.