Poet Nikki Giovanni to Speak at Caltech

PASADENA, Calif.-Celebrated poet, activist, and educator Nikki Giovanni will be the featured speaker at "An Evening with Nikki Giovanni," to be presented by the Caltech Y Social Activism Speaker Series at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 9, in Beckman Auditorium on the California Institute of Technology campus. The event is free and open to the public. Giovanni will sign books immediately after the event, and copies of her work can be purchased inside the auditorium.

One of the most widely read of modern American poets, Giovanni remains a vigilant and passionate advocate for civil rights and equality. She has been called the "princess of black poetry" by the New York Times and a "venerable lioness" by the Washington Post. Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni began her literary career in 1960 as a student at Fisk University and has gone on to be a strong artistic voice in America.

Since the publication of her earliest collections in 1968, her work has explored themes of truth, love, race, and identity in African American culture. Her recent publications include The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni: 1968-1998 (2003), Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea: Poems and Not Quite Poems (2002), Blues for All the Changes: New Poems (1999), Love Poems (1997), Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni: 1968-1995 (1996), and Rosa (2005), a children's book about Rosa Parks.

Her accolades include over 21 honorary degrees from various colleges and universities, the NAACP Image Award for Literature in 1998, 2000, and 2003, the Langston Hughes Award for Distinguished Contributions to Arts and Letters in 1996, Governor's Awards in the Arts from both Tennessee and Virginia, and a 2003 Grammy nomination in the spoken-word category for The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection.

She is currently professor of English and university distinguished professor at Virginia Tech.

This event is sponsored by the Moore-Hufstedler Fund, Caltech Student Affairs, Campus Life, the Diversity Program Fund, the Alumni Association, Jack and Edith Roberts, the Graduate Student Council, the Caltech Y, and the Caltech Administrative Committee on Diversity and Minority Affairs.

Beckman Auditorium is located at 332 S. Michigan Avenue near the center of the Caltech campus in Pasadena. Parking is available in the lots south of Del Mar Boulevard between Wilson and Chester avenues, and in the Wilson Avenue parking structures between San Pasqual Street and Del Mar Boulevard.

For more information, contact the Caltech Y at (626) 395-6163 or visit the Social Activism Speaker Series website at http://www.sass.caltech.edu. ###

Media Contact: Deborah Williams-Hedges (626) 395-3227 debwms@caltech.edu

Visit the Caltech Media Relations Website at: http://pr.caltech.edu/media