Nikki Giovanni, the poet and children’s book author who was one of the most recognizable figures of the Black Arts Movement, has died at 81, the Associated Press reports.

Giovanni, a Tennessee native, was educated at Fisk University in Nashville, where she was involved with the civil rights group the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. She made her literary debut in 1968 with the poetry collections Black Feeling, Black Talk and Black Judgement, which made her a star of the poetry world and led to appearances on the Tonight show and Soul!

Giovanni would go on to publish more than 20 additional collections, including The Women and The Men, Love Poems, and Acolytes, and more than a dozen children’s books, including Rosa, illustrated by Bryan Collier; Hip Hop Speaks to Children, illustrated by Kristen Balouch; and A Library, illustrated by Erin K. Robinson.

In 1987, Giovanni took a position at Virginia Tech University, where she would teach until her retirement in 2022. In 2005, she moved to have a student, Seung-Hui Cho, removed from her poetry class, calling him “menacing”; two years later, Cho killed 32 people at the university in the deadliest school shooting in American history. Giovanni gave a convocation speech at a memorial service for the victims.

Giovanni’s admirers paid tribute to her on social media. On the platform X, literary agent Kima Jones wrote, “Nikki Giovanni is a giant of my girlhood. Some of my first books of poetry! My first articulations of my understanding of my girl-self. May she be greeted by her ancestors with love and honor and admiration.”

And author Jenn Baker posted, “We lost another legend today: Ms. Nikki Giovanni. What a legacy, what a life filled with love. Eternally grateful for all she gifted us, not just in words but in how she lived and what she bestowed to generations.”

Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.