Nikki Giovanni was one of the greatest poets of her generation and it was an honour to sit with her for a special episode of The Last Bohemians, recorded in Spring 2024 in London, while she was promoting what would become her final anthology, Poems: 1968-2020 (Penguin Classics). When we saw she was in town, we jumped at the chance to speak with her and we're very grateful to have been granted an audience.

A poet, author and activist, Nikki was considered a key figure in the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 70s, which ran parallel to the Civil Rights and Black Power movements in America. It included notable writers and artists like Audre Lorde, Maya Angelou and another of our Last Bohemians, Betye Saar, many of whom she counted as friends. Just imagine that dinner party!

Nikki was born in 1943 in Knoxville, Tennessee, grew up in Ohio, and self-published her first two books in 1968. In the 70s, she was selling out huge concert venues and started blending gospel music with spoken word, on albums like Truth is On The Way, foreshadowing the birth of hip-hop. Her poems spoke boldly of justice and liberation but had love and joy at their centre, and she released over 30 books of them.

It’s strange and sad to speak about Nikki Giovanni in the past tense: she passed away on 9 December 2024, aged 81, of complications from lung cancer, just before this edit was finished.

We’ve sat on this episode for a while, unsure what to do with it and when to release it to the world. But we think you should have it in time for International Women’s Day 2025. Since 2019, we’ve either launched a series or a one-off around this time and felt that, with everything going on in the world at the moment, it’s the moment to send this special conversation out there.

And wow, does Nikki have some things to say, as she discusses becoming a success, her famous friendships with Aretha Franklin and Nina Simone, the power of anger, her self-care routine and why poetry is a serious business indeed.

////CREDITS////

This episode is hosted and exec-produced by Kate Hutchinson, with audio production and editing by Kit Callin. It was recorded at Spiritland Studios, London.

The poem you hear is 'Serious Poems' by Nikki Giovanni, part of the anthology book Poems: 1968-2020, out now on Penguin Classics.

The music used is 'Only Instrumental' by Broke For Free.

A huge thank you to Juliette Morrison at Penguin and Virginia Fowler for helping to make this interview happen.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelastbohemians.substack.com/subscribe