Giovanni, Nikki (Yolande Cornelia, Jr) (1943– )

US poet, writer, academic, and African-American activist, who has used her literary works to speak out on family issues, as in The Woman and the Men (1975). Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. She studied at Fisk University, Tennessee (1960–61 and 1964–67), the University of Pennsylvania (1967), and Columbia University (1968). Based in Cincinnati, she has taught at many institutions, including Mount St Joseph on the Ohio (1985).