New Releases by Nikki Giovanni

For use in teaching literature to high school students.

Protected by her mother''s strong arms and the bonds of her community, a happy black girl carries her dreams as high as the sky.

In this "dazzling anthology" (Publishers Weekly), Daryl Cumber Dance has collected the often hard-hitting, sometimes risqué, always dramatic humor that arises from the depth of black women''s souls and the breadth of their lives. The eloquent wit and laughter of African American women are presented here in all their written and spoken manifestations: autobiographies, novels, essays, poems, speeches, comic routines, proverbial sayings, cartoons, mimeographed sheets, and folk tales. The chapters proceed thematically, covering the church, love, civil rights, motherly advice, and much more.

A collection of poems primarily about nature and the seaons but also concerned with chocolate and scary movies.

A remarkable collection of poetry from the Harlem Renaissance and beyond, stitched together with commentary from Giovanni.... An important resource for those interested in poetry and in understanding the African American experience.

When Nikki Giovanni''s poems first emerged from the Black Rights Movement in the late 1960s, she immediately took a place among the most celebrated and controversial poets of the era. Finally, here is the first compilation of Nikki Giovanni''s poetry. It is the testimony of a life''s work from one of the commanding voices to grace America''s political and poetic landscape at the end of the twentieth century. From the revolutionary "The Great Pax Whitie" and "Poem for Aretha" to the sublime "Ego Tripping" and the tender "My House," these 150 mind-speaking, truth-telling poems are at once powerful yet sensual, angry yet affirming. Arranged chronologically, they reflect the changes Giovanni has endured as a Black woman, lover, mother, teacher, and poet. Here is the evocation of a nation''s past and present -- intensely personal and fiercely political -- from one of our most compassionate, outspoken observers.

A collection of sharp and clean essays that cut to the bone of racism, by one of America''s best writers. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Describes the joys of summer spent with family in Knoxville: eating vegetables right from the garden, going to church picnics, and walking in the mountains.

From her conversation with James Baldwin, an interview that first aired on the television program Soul!, later published as A Dialogue. Also included is an excerpt from A Poetic Equation, her lengthy talk with the poet Margaret Walker. In this exchange of ideas and opinions with Walker a young poet new to the literary world assumes the role of spokesperson for a generation.

Autobiographical essays and articles.

Collection of children''s poems presenting life as it is experienced by black children.

Twenty years after the release of the first edition of this bestseller, poet Nikki Giovanni has added 10 new poems to the 22 that made up the original collection. Powerfully illustrated by George Ford, Ego-Tripping captures the essence of the African-American experience in ways that have special relevance and appeal for adolescents.

Nikki Giovanni, long known as "the Princess of Black Poetry," dedicates Those Who Ride the Night Winds to "the day trippers and midnight cowboys," the ones who have devoted their lives to pushing the limits of the human condition and who have shattered the constraints of the status quo to live life as a "marvelous, transitory adventure."Included are poems about John Lennon, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy, as well as friends, lovers, mothers, and the poet herself. With reverence for the ordinary and in search of the extraordinary, Those Who Ride the Night Winds is Nikki Giovanni''s most accessible collection ever. She displays her passion for and connectedness to the people and places that touch her. The reissue of Nikki Giovanni''s seminal 1984 collection will once again enchant those who have always loved her poems--and those who are just getting to know her work. As a witness to three generations, Nikki Giovanni has perceptively and poetically recorded her observations of both the outside world and the gentle yet enigmatic territory of the self. When her poems first emerged from the civil rights and Black Power movements in the late 1960s, she immediately became a celebrated and controversial figure. Written in one of the most commanding voices to grace America''s political and poetic landscape at the end of the twentieth century, Nikki Giovanni''s poems embody the fearless passion and spirited wit for which she is beloved and revered. Nikki Giovanni is our most widely read living black poet, and in her most accessible collection to date, we become aware of the poet as a human being we can relate to, someone affected by and concerned with events. The title of this collection refers to people who have tried to make changes, people who have gone against the tide, people who were unafraid to test their wings. Included are poems about John Lennon, Billie Jean King, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy. There are poems about friends, lovers, mothers, and about the poet herself. Long known as the "Princess of Black Poetry," Nikki Giovanni is as alive and vibrant as ever. Her many readers will find once again in this collection the warmth, wit, passion, and caring about people that have always distinguished her work. Strong, direct, tremendously energetic, visionary, vulnerable, and real, these poems reveal a great spirit among us; a woman in her human dimension; a person all readers can identify with and believe in.

A pivotal work in Nikki Giovanni''s career, Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day is one of the most poignant and intorspective of all Giovanni''s collections. Moving from the emotionally fraught political arena to the intimate realm of the personal, the poems in this volume express a conflicted consciousness and the disillusionment shared by so many during the early 1970s, when the dreams of the Civil Rights era seemed to have evaporated. First published in 1978, this classic will remind her readers why they were first drawn to Nikki Giovanni and enthrall new readers who are just now coming to these timeless poems. As a witness to three generations, Nikki Giovanni has perceptively and poetically recorded her observations of both the outside world and the gentle yet enigmatic territory of the self. When her poems first emerged from the Black Rights Movement in the late 1960s, she immediately became a celebrated and controversial poet of the era. Written in one of the most commanding voices to grace America''ss political and poetic landscape at the end of the twentieth century, Nikki Giovanni''s poems embody the fearless passion and spirited wit for which she is beloved and revered. A pivotal work in Nikki Giovanni''s career, Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day is one of the most poignant and introspective of all Giovanni''s collections. Moving from the emotionally fraught political arena to the intimate realm of the personal, the poems in this volume express a conflicted consciousness and the disillusionment shared by so many during the early 1970s, when the dreams of the Civil Rights era seemed to have evaporated. First published in l978, this classic will remind her readers why they were first drawn to Nikki Giovanni and enthrall new readers who are just now coming to these timeless poems. As a witness to three generations, Nikki Giovanni has perceptively and poetically recorded her observations of both the outside world and the gentle yet enigmatic territory of the self. When her poems first emerged from the Black Rights Movement in the late 1960s, she immediately became a celebrated and controversial poet of the era. Written in one of themost commanding voices to grace America''s political and poetic landscape at the end of the twentieth century, Nikki Giovanni''s poems embody the fearless passion and spirited wit for which she is beloved and revered. "Nikki Giovanni is one of our national treasures. For decades she has offered her wit and wisdom, her bruising honesty, and, above all, her unbounded love through these poems as a healing for herself, her community, and her country." --Gloria Naylor

In the lyrical, irreverent, and tough-talking voice that resounds in her poetry, Nikki Giovanni explores one of the most tumultuous periods of our history. Her essays take us from her childhood in Knoxville, Tennessee, through her work in the militant Black revolution of the sixties, to her emergence as an acclaimed poet. Interweaving warm recollections of her personal history -- the enduring strengths of her family, the birth of her child, the rewards of writing -- with incisive vignettes of cultural and political history, including her often surprising opinions of LeRoi Jones, Angela Davis, Lena Horne, Stokeley Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, and many others. Giovanni chronicles the changing moods of society as she reveals the inner and outer worlds of a Black woman in twentieth-century America. -- From publisher''s description.

Forty-two poems written between 1970 to 1975.

Profiles the founder of the "New Town" movement and discusses the development of British new towns, the Radburn Idea, Greenbelt Towns, and the American new towns such as Reston and Columbia.

Thanks to the television program Soul!, a remarkable encounter between two of America''s foremost Black writers was aired on public TV. Here, the transcript of that meeting between James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni forms an engrossing document. Probing, searching, made dramatic by the recognition of sudden, subtle levels of confrontation, the Baldwin/Giovanni exchange is a freewheeling conversation ranging over many topics. A Dialogue explores problems facing Americans, black and white, as well as troubles besetting the world. Representing two different generations, the two writers discussed, argued, and communicated some painful truths. Addressing themselves particularly to the changing roles of men and women in modern society, they paid special attention to the consequences of these new modes of behavior on the already complex relationship between the Black man and the Black woman. The talk is stimulating, provocative, deeply felt, making this dialogue a rare, shared experience for the reader. --From publisher description.

A poetry collection about love conveys the black author''s feelings toward family relationships and life

"The seminal volume of Nikki Giovanni''s body of work."--Cover