A Good Cry
What We Learn From Tears and Laughter
HarperCollins · Print & ebook · October 24, 2017
The poetry of Nikki Giovanni has spurred movements, turned hearts and informed generations.
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- Who it’s for
- Nikki Giovanni turns inward, bringing public conviction into conversation with memory, grief, and affection.
- Themes
- Aging and personal history, Family violence, Friendship and remembrance
- Pacing
- Reflective
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For younger readers: One Last Word, My Week With Him, Nina
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The poetry of Nikki Giovanni has spurred movements, turned hearts and informed generations. She’s been hailed as a firebrand, a radical, a courageous activist who has spoken out on the sensitive issues that touch our national consciousness, including race and gender, social justice, protest, violence in the home and in the streets, and why black lives matter.
Continue reading
One of America’s most celebrated poets looks inward in this powerful collection, a rumination on her life and the people who have shaped her. As energetic and relevant as ever, Nikki now offers us an intimate, affecting, and illuminating look at her personal history and the mysteries of her own heart. In A Good Cry, she takes us into her confidence, describing the joy and peril of aging and recalling the violence that permeated her parents’ marriage and her early life. She pays homage to the people who have given her life meaning and joy: her grandparents, who took her in and saved her life; the poets and thinkers who have influenced her; and the students who have surrounded her. Nikki also celebrates her good friend, Maya Angelou, and the many years of friendship, poetry, and kitchen-table laughter they shared before Angelou’s death in 2014. "If there was a need for poetry that galvanized and inspired, there was also a demand for poetry that comforted and unified — and Ms. Giovanni provided on both counts." — The Washington Post
Laughter and Candor
Nikki Giovanni turns inward, bringing public conviction into conversation with memory, grief, and affection.
Come here for
- A poet reflecting on aging, family, and the people who shaped her
- The intimacy of personal history alongside questions of race and justice
Expect
- An affecting, illuminating look at life and the heart
- Tributes to mentors, students, grandparents, and a cherished friendship
Where it sits
| African American Poetry | 85% |
|---|---|
| Black & African American Lives | 32% |
| Poetry About Death | 19% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Black & African American Lives
- Personal Memoirs
- Activist Lives
- Essay Collections
Show all 8 publisher categories
- Inspirational & Religious Poetry
- African American Poetry
- LGBTQ+ Poetry
- Love Poetry
- Authors
- Nikki Giovanni
- Publisher
- HarperCollins
- Published
- October 24, 2017
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Aging and personal history · Family violence · Friendship and remembrance
- Reading lane
- Black & African American Lives