Nikki Giovanni was awarded the Frost Medal for Lifetime Achievement by the Poetry Society of America on Feb. 26, two months after her death.
The organization said it had nominated Giovanni for the honor in fall 2024, shortly before her death in December.
“Nikki Giovanni loomed as an essential and powerful figure in American literature and culture, the author of three dozen books of poetry, essays, and children’s writing,” The Poetry Society of America wrote in its announcement. “With insight and stark intelligence, Giovanni’s written works articulate the highest hopes of our nation as a land where all are valued and all are free to be themselves and love who they wish to love.”
Giovanni, a poet, activist, and educator (she spent 35 years at Virginia Tech), graduated from Fisk University in Nashville. She authored over 30 books in her titanic career, which makes her the perfect recipient for this prestigious lifetime achievement award.
“Emerging from the fervent 1960s Black Arts Movement, Giovanni’s politically direct poetry gave a sound to the frustration of African Americans, who also found in her imagery and lines reasons to treasure themselves,” The Poetry Society of America continued. “Her often witty and deeply reflective poems spoke to the deep channels of love and connection which are the source of our strength and survival.”
The organization described her art as empowering, and Giovanni was dedicated to inspiring the nation’s youth to write about the world as they experienced it.
The Frost Medal was first presented in 1930. It has long been given to giants in the art form, such as Wallace Stevens, Marianne Moore, Gwendolyn Brooks, Allen Ginsberg, and Adrienne Rich. It is awarded annually by the PSA’s Board of Governors.
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