New Releases by Nikki Giovanni

From one of America’s most celebrated poets, Nikki Giovanni, comes this poignant collection of poetry that celebrates the simple pleasures of everyday life and the bonds we share with those closest to us. “This slim volume delights on every page. There are stories, imaginings, whimsy, and startling images which prove the poet’s power and her command of language . . . Anyone with a love of language will be delighted with this book and the continuing publication of America’s treasured poet.”—San Francisco Book Review The poetry of Nikki Giovanni has spurred movements and inspired songs, turned hearts and informed generations. She''s been hailed as a healer and as a national treasure. But Giovanni''s heart resides in the everyday, where family and lovers gather, friends commune, and those no longer with us are remembered. And at every gathering there is food—food as sustenance, food as aphrodisiac, food as memory. A pot of beans is flavored with her mother''s sighs—this sigh part cardamom, that one the essence of clove; a lover requests a banquet as an affirmation of ongoing passion; homage is paid to the most time-honored appetizer: soup. With Chasing Utopia, Giovanni demands that the prosaic—flowers, birdsong, winter—be seen as poetic, and reaffirms once again why she is as energetic, "remarkable" (Gwendolyn Brooks), "wonderful" (Marian Wright Edelman),"outspoken, prolific, energetic" (New York Times), and relevant as ever.

One woman, one life, one goal. Tea with Oprah is a “Dramedy” (comedy, drama) about some of life''s best and worst moments with Nikki Giovanni Barnett, DBA better known as “Nik”. Tea with Oprah talks about the ups (graduations & parties) and the downs (fires & deaths) of Nik''s life from childhood leading to her current age. A lot of laughs (a few tears) and a lot of shall we say “toasting” to what Nik “The Jill of All Trades” has turned into some of life''s greatest and most memorable moments. NIk is hoping this re-cap of life''s “fantastic” formulas and troubling trials will land her one thing and one thing only. That one thing is tea with Oprah. Along the way Tea with Oprah will discuss the chaotic, catastrophic (yet fun and adventurous) road Nik took toward success while making lemonade out of all the lemons she could find. The only thing is she used lemonade as a chaser when drinking vodka shots. However, all of her past "hiccups" lead to her current day life of success. Need more be said? Think not; so sit back and get ready for an audacious adventure.

Our sixteenth president is known for many things: he delivered the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address during the Civil War. He was tall and skinny and notoriously stern-looking. And he also had some very strong ideas about abolishing slavery, ideas which brought him into close contact with another very visible public figure: Frederick Douglass. Douglass was born a slave but escaped in 1838 and became one of the central figures in the history of the American abolitionist movement. This book offers a glimpse into the unusual friendship between two great American leaders. At a time when racial tensions were high and racial equality was not yet established, Abraham Lincoln and Douglass formed a strong bond over shared ideals and worked alongside each other for a common goal. Nikki Giovanni and Bryan Collier, the acclaimed team behind Rosa, winner of the Coretta Scott King Award and a Caldecott Honor book, join forces once more to portray this historic friendship at a unique moment in time.

The purpose of Project Thesis II is to construct a theoretical model that one would like to solve thoroughly by research, designing a specific plan of action for a research study and writing an extended report based on a hypothesis or research questions. This project thesis is about performance improvement programs (PIP) and whether or not they increase job performance. These concepts are examined empirically with quantitative methods. General business concepts are used to identify and analyze performance improvement programs and their effects on job performance. This research project discusses how PIP''s will increase job performance with supporting documentation. PIP''s are worth investigating because if a cohesive bond is found between performance improvement programs, increased job performance and, employee promotions, overall positive growth of a company should form.

A resonant, powerful collection from one of America’s preeminent poets. In Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea, Nikki Giovanni turns her pen to nature and the environment, the might and grace of women, her battle with cancer, the relationships between mothers and daughters, the state of the nation, and more.

From one of America''s most cherished and celebrated poets, a landmark collection of Nikki Giovanni''s early work! “Nikki Giovanni is one of our national treasures.”—Gloria Naylor When Nikki Giovanni’s poems first emerged during the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s, she immediately took a place among the most celebrated and controversial artists of our time. More than 50 years later, Giovanni still stands as one of the most commanding, luminous voices to grace America’s political and poetic landscape. This timeless classic brings readers Nikki Giovanni''s poems from 1967 to 1983, from her books Black Feeling Black Talk; Black Judgement; Re: Creation; My House; The Women and the Men; Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day; and Those Who Ride the Night Winds. Stirring, provocative, and resonant, these poems heralded the arrival of an indelible literary voice that resounds to this day.

In a career that has spanned more than a quarter century, Nikki Giovanni has earned the reputation as one of America''s most celebrated and contoversial writers.Now, she presents a stunning collection of love poems that includes more than twenty new works. From the revolutionary "Seduction" to the tender new poem, "Just a Simple Declaration of Love," from the whimsical "I Wrote a Good Omelet" to the elegiac "All Eyez on U," written for Tupac Shakur, these poems embody the fearless passion and spirited wit for which Nikki Giovanni is beloved and revered. Romantic, bold, and erotic, Love Poems expresses notions of love in ways that are delightfully unexpected. Articulating in sensuous verse what we know only instinctively, Nikki Giovanni once again confirms her place as one of our nations''s most distinguished poets and powerful truth-tellers. In a career that has spanned more than a quarter century, starting with her explosive early years in the Black Rights Movement, Nikki Giovanni has earned a reputation as one of America''s most celebrated and controversial writers. Her mind-speaking work has made her a universal favorite and a number-one best-seller.The love poems-the revolutionary "Seduction," the whimsical "I Wrote a Good Omelet," and the tender "My House" to name just a few-are among the most beloved of all Nikki Giovanni''s works. Now, Love Poems brings together these and other favorites with over twenty new poems. Romantic, bold, and erotic, Love Poems will once again confirm Nikki Giovanni''s place among the country''s most renowned poets and truth tellers.

In her legendary career, artist and activist Nikki Giovanni has established herself as a writer who can entertain and challenge, and a voice for social justice who can inform and inspire in times of national crisis. Controversial, revolutionary, ethereal, or illuminating, her poems about race, Black lives, violence, gender, and family move readers of all ages and backgrounds. With BICYCLES, she’s collected poems that serve as a companion to her 1997 LOVE POEMS. An instant classic, that book--romantic, bold, and erotic--expressed notions of love in ways that were delightfully unexpected. In the years that followed, Giovanni experienced losses both public and private. A mother’s passing, a sister’s, too. A massacre on the campus at which she teaches. And just when it seemed life was spinning out of control, Giovanni rediscovered love--what she calls the antidote. Here romantic love--and all its manifestations, the physical touch, the emotional pull, the hungry heart--is distilled as never before by one of our most talented poets. In a time of national crisis or personal crisis, this is a collection that will open minds and change hearts as only the best art can.

This omnibus edition collects celebrated poet and activist Nikki Giovanni’s adult prose: Racism 101, Sacred Cows and Other Edibles and seven (7) selections from Gemini: An Extended Autobiographical Statement on My First Twenty-Five Years of Being a Black Poet, which was nominated for the National Book Award in 1971. Racism 101 (1994) contains essays that indict higher education for the inequities it perpetuates and contemplates the legacy of the 1960s. Giovanni gives searing commentary on Spike Lee and the making of Malcolm X, W.E.B. DuBois, affirmative action, President JFK and the state of urban schools. Racism 101 adds an important chapter to the debate on American national values. Sacred Cows and Other Edibles (1988) received the Ohioana Library Award. In it Nikki’s esays and articles take on the loftiness of higher education and personal major life crises. In Gemini (1971), Giovanni explores one of the most tumultuous periods in our history. Her essays take us from her childhood in Knoxville, Tennessee, through her work in the Black revolution of the sixties, to her emergence as an acclaimed poet. Nikki interweaves warm recollections of her personal history with incisive vignettes of cultural and political history, including her often surprising opinions of Amiri Baraka, Angela Davis, Lena Horne, Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown and others.

Intimate, edgy, and unapologetic, Blues: For All the Changes bears the mark of Nikki Giovanni''s unmistakable voice.In a career that has spanned three decades, Giovanni has created an indispensable body of work and earned a place amoung the nation''s most celebrated and controversial poets; Gloria Naylor calls her "one of our national treasures." Now, in these fifty-two new poems, Giovanni brings the passion, fearless wit, and intensely personal self that have defined her life''s work to a new front. Invoking the fates and exalting the rhythm of the everyday, Giovanni writes with might and majesty. From the environment to our reliance on manners, from sex and politics to love among Black folk, Blues is a masterwork with poems for every soul and every mood: The poignant "Stealing Home" pays tribute to Jackie Robinson, while "Road Rage Blues" jams on time and space; Giovanni celebrates love''s absolut power in "Train Rides" and laments life''s trasience in "Me and Mrs. Robin." With the tenderness that has made her on of our most accessible and beloved poets, Giovanni evokes a world that is not only just but also happy. Her powerful stand engages the world with a truth telling that is as eloquent as it is elegant. Intimate, edgy, and unapologetic, Blues For All the Changes bears the mark of Nikki Giovanni''s unmistakable voice. At once political and intensely personal, this long-awaited volume embodies the fearless passion and wit that have made Nikki Giovanni one of our most accessible poets; her audience defies all boundaries of race, class, age, and style. From the poignant "Stealing Home," Ms. Giovanni''s tribute to Jackie Robinson, to the defiant "Road Rage Blues," a jam on time and space, these fifty-one poems challenge the fates and invoke the precarious state of our environment, Giovanni''s battle with illness, manners, and other topics seminal to one of our most compassionate, outspoken observers. With a reverence for the power of language, Blues For All the Changes will once again enchant Nikki Giovanni''s extensive following and inspire those who are newly discovering her work.

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With the passion of a poet and the knowledge of a historian, Giovanni tells the story of Africans in America through the glorious words of 46 spirituals, which celebrate a people who overcame enslavement and found a way to survive, to worship, and to build.

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.

Angry that his singing is unappreciated by the Ants who relied on his music to make their summer work easier, Jimmy Grasshopper decides to sue them for lacking respect and not acknowledging his usefulness in their lives. 35,000 first printing.

"Giovanni tells the story of Africans in America through the words of 46 spirituals."--From source other than the Library of Congress

A biography of the African American woman whose refusal to give up her seat on a bus helped established the civil rights movement.

Three girls have fun playing dress-up at their grandmother''s house, even painting their toenails, but then they have nowhere to go. Includes activity ideas for parents and children.