Synopses & Reviews
When her work first emerged during the Black Arts Movement, Nikki Giovanni immediately became one of the most highly regarded and controversial poets of the modern age and her popularity continues today as she is celebrated in song, verse, and popular and literary circles.
Now this remarkable artist has penned a collection of eighty all-new poems and prose pieces that retain her distinct vision and voice yet mark a change of direction inspired by love, celebration, memories, and even nostalgia. In intimate and spare language, Giovanni offers insight into the powerful elements and forces in her life: family and friends, the deaths of heroes and companions, nature, libraries, and theater. In between, the deep and edgy conscience that has defined her for decades shines through when she writes movingly of Rosa Parks, Hurricane Katrina, and Emmett Till, leaving no doubt that this commanding presence has not traded one approach for another but simply made room for both.
Synopsis
A collection of eighty all new poems, Acolytes is distinctly Nikki Giovanni, but different. Not softened, but more inspired by love, celebration, memories and even nostalgia. She aims her intimate and sparing words at family and friends, the deaths of heroes and friends, favorite meals and candy, nature, libraries, and theatre. But in between, the deep and edgy conscience that has defined her for decades shines through when she writes about Rosa Parks, hurricane Katrina, and Emmett Till's disappearance, leaving no doubt that Nikki has not traded one approach for another, but simply made room for both.
About the Author
Nikki Giovanni, poet, activist, mother, and professor, is a seven-time NAACP Image Award winner and the first recipient of the Rosa Parks Woman of Courage Award, and holds the Langston Hughes Medal for Outstanding Poetry, among many other honors. The author of twenty-eight books and a Grammy nominee for The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection, she is the University Distinguished Professor of English at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.