August 24, 1999
LAWRENCE -- Best-selling poet, author and essayist Nikki Giovanni is speaking at the University of Kansas Lied Center at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 2, in a program titled "Nikki Giovanni: Past, Present, and Future," sponsored by the KU chapter of the National Council of Negro Women.
Through her poetry and prose, Giovanni is a major force in the black arts movement and a strong voice of the black community. She received Mademoiselle's "Highest Achievement Award," was named "Woman of the Year" by Ladies Home Journal, and has several honorary doctorates. She has nearly 20 books in print, with several having sold more than 100,000 copies. She currently is a professor of English at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg.
Tickets are on sale at the KU box offices: Student Union Activities, 864-3477; Murphy Hall, 864-3982; and Lied Center, 864-2787; and at Ticketmaster. Prices are $3 for KU students, staff and faculty and $5 for general admission. Proceeds from the program will go to support KU's Women of Distinction Scholarship.
NCNW is a voluntary nonprofit membership organization helping women improve the quality of life for themselves, their families and the community. NCNW also sponsors educational, economic, social, cultural and scientific self-help projects nationally and in specific communities across the nation. Through its projects, NCNW strives to achieve equality of opportunity and eliminate prejudice and discrimination based upon race, creed, color, sex or national origin.