The acclaimed writer and literary celebrity wrote over 20 books, including ‘Black Feeling Black Talk’ Nikki Giovanni, renowned poet, activist and leading figure of the Black Arts Movement, has died. The author died on Dec.

Nikki Giovanni, the renowned poet and Black queer icon, has died at age 81. Giovanni died Monday in a hospital in Blacksburg, Va., her wife, Virginia C. Fowler, told The New York Times. The cause was complications of lung cancer.

A leader in the Black Arts movement, and a powerful advocate for Black women writers has passed away after a battle with lung cancer.