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Our 2020 Conversation with Nikki Giovanni

Think poetry is just pretty words? Think again. Nikki Giovanni—who survived lung cancer, buried her best friend James Baldwin, and kept teaching at Virginia Tech through everything—breaks down Morrison's genius, the writers who shaped her, and why celebrating "The Bluest Eye" fifty years later isn't nostalgia, it's survival.

This was our 2020 conversation when the world felt like it was cracking open and we needed Giovanni's voice—sharp, warm, uncompromising—more than ever.

You'll hear her talk about Morrison the way only someone who lived through the same fights can. About what it meant to watch "The Bluest Eye" land in 1970. About the cost of telling truth. This isn't a polite literary chat—this is two women who know what it takes to keep your voice alive when the world wants you quiet.

From the poet who gave us "Ego-Tripping" at 24 and never stopped writing fire: here's Nikki Giovanni on legacy, love, and why some books don't just survive—they save lives.

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