[OYAN] Shoutout for Friday, 12/13

[BERGQUIST Greta * SLO]

Hello everyone,

Today's shoutout is going to poet Nikki Giovanni<https://nikki-giovanni.com/>, who passed away this week at 81. I've been listening to old interviews and re-reading her collected poems, remembering twenty years ago teaching some of them in my 9th grade classroom. Most of my kids weren't that enthralled but the ones who were - that was pretty awesome to see. I often, after tragedy, go back to her poem from right after<https://www.archive.vtmag.vt.edu/memorial07/VTMagazinePDF/convocation.8.pdf> the Virginia Tech 2007 shooting.

If you're not at all familiar with her work, the NPR Book of The Day Podcast<https://www.npr.org/2024/12/11/1218506687/nprs-book-of-the-day-remembering-nikki-giovanni> has a great 12-minute clip from a 2013 conversation that beautifully captures the joy, delight, and forthrightness she expressed her whole life long. School Library Journal put up a pretty great compilation of her works<https://www.slj.com/story/newsfeatures/Celebrate-Nikki-Giovannis-Life-Her-Work?utm_campaign=SLJ%20Extra%20Helping&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_a4O9XsVVfvcx6ra7h91_Wd2sAwZNhLfTK3rbAau-4JdO98S2J4I7TAwF7VWSujvlUnRzERZfK2gs8HY9kOgQqA7g_bxB_mM2sTsiCvFPUVFYPQGQ&_hsmi=337939780&utm_content=337939780&utm_source=hs_email> for kids.

Many of her poems are worth sharing. Yesterday Emily West, Early Lit librarian at North Plains, reminded me she's also from Knoxville, Tennessee and this is a good poem<https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/160376/knoxville-tennessee> for rainy cold winter days when you want to remember what summer feels like.

I hope you have a little time out this weekend to recharge and maybe dig up a poem or song from one of your favorite poets or musicians, it's a good thing to do on busy December days!

Best,
Greta
Greta Bergquist, MLIS, MAT (she/her/hers)
Youth Services Consultant
State Library of Oregon
greta.bergquist at slo.oregon.gov<mailto:greta.bergquist at slo.oregon.gov>  | 971-375-3549
www.oregon.gov/library<http://www.oregon.gov/library>

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