April is National Poetry Month, and we're celebrating with this week’s episode featuring one of America’s most celebrated modern poets: Nikki Giovanni.
The National Writers Series has been graced by Giovanni’s presence twice over the years – once in 2018 to discuss her book A Good Cry, and for this conversation in 2013, just before the release of Chasing Utopia: A Hybrid, one part memoir, one part book of poetry.
Giovanni has also authored many other works of poetry, nonfiction, and children’s literature over her decades-long career, and earned accolades including being named “Woman of the Year” by multiple major magazines and one of Oprah Winfrey’s “Living Legends.” Our episode today is guest-hosted by Leigh Haber, books editor at O, The Oprah Magazine.
Our episode begins with a look back at Giovanni’s childhood neighborhood in late 60’s Harlem, where she counted musical and theatrical luminaries like Morgan Freeman, Eugene McDaniels, Cornell Dupree, and Sidney Poitier as her neighbors…
