Chasing Utopia: A Hybrid

The poetry of Nikki Giovanni has spurred social justice movements and inspired songs, turned hearts and informed generations about the reality of life--especially Black life--in America. One of the foremost African-American writers and activists of her generation, she has been hailed as a healer and a sage, a powerful voice on issues of race, equality, violence, and discrimination.

With Chasing Utopia, Giovanni demands that the prosaic--flowers, food, birdsong, winter--be seen as poetic, and reaffirms once again why she is as energetic, "remarkable" (Gwendolyn Brooks), "wonderful" (Marian Wright Edelman),"outspoken, prolific, energetic" (New York Times), and relevant as ever.

"This slim volume delights on every page. There are stories, imaginings, whimsy, and startling images which prove the poet's power and her command of language . . . Anyone with a love of language will be delighted with this book and the continuing publication of America's treasured poet."--San Francisco Book Review

Nikki Giovanni, poet, activist, mother, and professor, is a seven-time NAACP Image Award winner and the first recipient of the Rosa Parks Woman of Courage Award, and holds the Langston Hughes Medal for Outstanding Poetry, among many other honors. The author of twenty-eight books and a Grammy nominee for The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection, she is the University Distinguished Professor of English at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.