CINCINNATI (WKRC) – Nikki Giovanni, the celebrated poet, activist and educator, passed away yesterday at the age of 81.

Giovanni was born in June 1943. Just a few months after her birth, her family moved from Knoxville, Tennessee to Cincinnati, eventually settling in Lincoln Heights, a community that was close to her heart.

Connie Harris, a friend of Giovanni’s for over 40 years, said:

“She liked to talk about Lincoln Heights and going to school in Lincoln Heights and the Isley Brothers — and she wanted to bring awareness and recognition to the people of Lincoln Heights.”

Giovanni left Lincoln Heights to pursue a productive writing career, authoring more than two dozen best-selling poetry collections and children’s books. Her work has earned her numerous awards, including a Grammy nomination, seven NAACP Image Awards, keys to more than two dozen American cities and the Langston Hughes Medal.

Yaile Saweda Kamara, Poet Laureate of the Cincinnati and Mercantile Library, described Giovanni as “one of the most important writers of her time.”

“She always wrote from a place that wasn’t necessarily neat — but honest,” Kamara said. “So there were things she wrote that were surprising in the way she looked at the world.”

Kamara met Giovanni two summers ago during a June 19 event at the Mercantile Library. Reflecting on this encounter, Kamara said:

“When I met her I couldn’t help but gush about what she meant to me – and I planned to take a trip to get out of the country after I graduated; I was planning to go to France. And when I found out about it. After receiving the invitation to read with her, I canceled the trip so I could stay and meet her, read alongside her, and meet her in person.