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FILE – Nikki Giovanni attends Nikki Giovanni’s book signing at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan on September 30, 2010. (Photo by Monica Morgan/WireImage/Getty Images)

Nikki Giovanni, the poet, author, educator and speaker who later became a literary celebrity, has died. She was 81.

Giovanni, author of more than 25 books, was a famous artist who fans came to know well through her work, readings and other live performances, as well as her years on the faculty at Virginia Tech and other schools.

Giovanni’s poetry collections, including “Black Judgment” and “Black Feeling Black Talk,” sold thousands of copies, led to invitations from “The Tonight Show” and other television programs, and made her so popular that she filled a 3,000-seat concert hall in Lincoln Center for a 30th birthday party, according to the Associated Press.

The AP reported that Giovanni told her story through poetry, prose and the spoken word, reflected on her childhood in Tennessee and Ohio, supported the Black Power movement, addressed her battle with lung cancer and paid tribute to heroes from Nina Simone to Angela Davis , while personal passions like food and romance are discussed.

Giovanni was born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni Jr. in Knoxville, Tennessee and was soon nicknamed “Nikki” by her older sister.

She was 4 years old when her family moved to Ohio, eventually settling in the black community of Lincoln Heights outside of Cincinnati, and she traveled frequently between Tennessee and Ohio.

The AP noted that Giovanni’s best-known work came early in her career; the 1968 poem “Nikki-Rosa.” It was a proclamation of her right to define herself, a warning to others against telling her story, and a brief meditation on her poverty as a girl and the blessings she received like holiday gatherings received with the family.

Giovanni had a son, Thomas Watson Giovanni, in 1969, but never married his father. Later in her life, she lived with her partner Virginia Fowler, a fellow faculty member at Virginia Tech.