Well-known Virginia Tech professor dies at 81

On December 10, 2024By Littum

BLACKSBURG, Va. (WDBJ) – Virginia Tech professor and poet, Nikki Giovanni, has died at the age of 81. She died peacefully with her lifelong partner, Virginia (Ginney) Fowler, by her side.

Yolande Cornelia “Nikki” Giovanni, born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on June 7, 1943, served as University Distinguished Professor in the English Department at Virginia Tech. Giovanni, an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., is the recipient of hundreds of awards and honors. She was most recently awarded a 2024 Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Documentary Film for Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project.

A prominent figure in the Black Arts and Civil Rights Movements, she befriended Rosa Parks, Aretha Franklin, James Baldwin, Nina Simone and Muhammad Ali and inspired generations of students, artists, activists, musicians, scholars and people young and old.

Having battled cancer twice already, Giovanni refused to let a third battle interrupt her art. Just three weeks ago, she performed with saxophonist Javon Jackson at the Louis Armstrong House in New York City. Her forthcoming book of poetry, “The Last Book”, will be published in autumn 2025.

“The poet Adrienne Rich wrote ‘…somehow each of us will help the other to live, and somewhere each of us must help the other to die.’ Renée Watson and I sat by her side with Ginney, along with family and close friends, talking about how much we learned about living from her, how lucky we were to have Nikki guide us, teach us, love us will be forever grateful for the unconditional time she gave us, to all her literary children throughout the writing world,” said Kwame Alexander.

Giovanni is survived by his wife, Virginia Fowler, her son Thomas Giovanni, her grandson, Kai Giovanni, two cousins, Haynes Ford and Allison (Pat) Ragan, and a nephew Christopher Black.

“We will forever feel blessed to have shared a legacy and love with our dear cousin,” Allison Ragan said on behalf of the family.