96-05-29 Poet Nikki Giovanni to Speak at Ohio State

NATIONALLY RENOWNED POET NIKKI GIOVANNI TO SPEAK AT OHIO STATE

     COLUMBUS -- Nationally known author and poet Nikki Giovanni 
will speak Friday (5/31) at 6 p.m. in the Ohio Union ballrooms, 
1739 N. High St., at the African American Farewell Celebration, a 
ceremony honoring spring and summer graduating students of 
African descent at The Ohio State University. The program is free 
and open to the public.

     The author of some 25 books of poetry and essays, Giovanni 
is a professor of English at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute 
and State University.  Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tenn., and 
grew up in Cincinnati.  She earned her undergraduate degree from 
Fisk University in 1967, and attended the University of 
Pennsylvania's School of Social Work.  She began her writing 
career in 1969 when she received a grant from the National 
Foundation of the Arts to attend Columbia University's School of 
Fine Arts and published her first book, Black Feeling, Black 
Talk.

     Throughout her career, Giovanni has recorded numerous 
records, tapes and compact disks as well as appeared in the 
Public Broadcasting Service documentary, "Spirit to Spirit: The 
Poetry of Nikki Giovanni."

     She is the recipient of numerous awards and honorary 
degrees, and has held a number of teaching positions including a 
visiting professorship in English at Ohio State in 1984-85.

     The African American Farewell Celebration is an annual event 
sponsored by the National Pan-Hellenic Council at Ohio State, the 
governing body of Ohio State's nine traditional African American 
sororities and fraternities.

                             #

Contact: Kai Johnson, graduate administrative assistant in the 
Office of Student Organization Services, (614) 292-8763.


[Submitted by: Von Reid-Vargas (ereid@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu)
               
Wed, 29 May 1996 16:25:35 -0400]
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