During the month of February (and beyond!) we shine the spotlight on texts written by African American authors. This month, we’ll look at poets and their works.
Nikki Grimes is both a poet and novelist and has won numerous awards for her writing. In addition to her work for children, Grimes has written articles for a number of magazines. Nikki Grimes is the 2006 Award Recipient of the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Read more about one of her upcoming books.
Read “An Interview with Poet Nikki Grimes” by Sylvia M. Vardell and Peggy Oxley in the January 2007 issue of Language Arts and then watch the video interview “Spotlight on NCTE Poet Nikki Grimes” with Lee Bennett Hopkins, created by author Renee LaTulie.
Tune in to this ReadWriteThink.org podcast episode to listen to a chat with celebrated author Nikki Grimes. Nikki’s writing process is discussed along with what inspires the characters in her books. Nikki also shares her philosophy about writing for children and how her life has influenced her writing.
Nikki Grimes is known to write narrative poetry. She believes in storytelling through poetry. For an additional classroom connection, ask your students, “What stories are best told through poetry?”