Nikki Giovanni was born June 7, 1943 in
Knoxville, Tennessee to Yolande Cornelia, Sr. and Jones "Gus" Giovanni. Her father's lineage is obscure, but Giovanni believes that he is "descended from slaves owned by an Italian slaveowner." She grew up in
Lincoln Heights, a suburb of
Cincinnati, Ohio, and in 1960 began her studies at
Fisk University in
Nashville, Tennessee, her grandfather's alma mater. She graduated in 1967 with honors, receiving a B.A. in history. Afterwards she went on to attend the
University of Pennsylvania and
Columbia University. In 1969 Giovanni began teaching at
Livingston College of
Rutgers University.
Giovanni gave birth to Thomas Watson Giovanni, her only child, on August 31, 1969 while visiting Cincinnati for Labor Day Weekend. She later stated that she had a child out of wedlock at twenty-five because she "wanted to have a baby and I could afford to have a baby" and because of her conviction that marriage as an institution was inhospitable to women and would never play a role in her life. After her son's birth, Giovanni rearranged her priorities around him and has stated that she would give her life for him. "I just can't imagine living without him. But I can live without the revolution, without world socialism, women's lib...I have a child. My responsibilities have changed."
Both Giovanni's mother and sister died of
lung cancer and in 1995 Giovanni herself was diagnosed with the disease. She had surgery at Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati and eventually had a lung removed. Giovanni gave up smoking after she was diagnosed, saying in 1996 that she now smokes in her dreams. She also denies the fact that her cancer has made her a better person, adding that "if it takes a near-death experience for you to appreciate your life, you're wasting somebody's time." In 1999, Giovanni said she would like to negotiate a truce with her cancer, stating that she'd "like an agreement that we will live together for another 30 years." In 2005 Giovanni contributed an introduction to the book
Breaking the Silence: Inspirational Stories of Black Cancer Survivors.
Giovanni has been teaching writing and literature at Virginia Tech in
Blacksburg, VA since
1987, and is a Distinguished Professor of English. Giovanni taught the Virginia Tech shooter
Seung-Hui Cho in a poetry class. She described him as downright "mean" and, when she approached the department chair to have Cho taken out of her class, said she was willing to resign rather than continue teaching him. On April 17, 2007, at the Virginia Tech Convocation commemorating the April 16
Virginia Tech massacre, Giovanni closed the ceremony with a chant poem, intoning,:
"We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on. We are embracing our mourning. We are Virginia Tech... We do not understand this tragedy... No one deserves a tragedy."
She also claimed that she immediately suspected that Cho might be the shooter when she heard about the shooting, and would have been shocked otherwise.
On August 21, 2007
The Tennessean reported that Giovanni is returning to her alma mater as a distinguished visiting professor at Fisk University. As well as teaching a writers workshop for about thirty students one day a week, Giovanni also wants to hold a workshop for the general public in order to reach out to the community. She will maintain her position at Virginia Tech.
