Nikki Giovanni

Nikki Giovanni, Poet and Literary Celebrity, Has Died at 81

NEW YORK — Nikki Giovanni, the poet, author, educator and public speaker who rose from borrowing money to release her first book to decades as a literary celebrity sharing her blunt and conversational takes on everything from racism and love to space travel and mortality, has died. She was 81.

Poet Nikki Giovanni, in her office, age 29, in 1973.