Nikki Grimes: Quick Facts

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Oct. 16, 2026

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Born	October 20, 1950 (age 76) • New York City • New York
Notable Works	“Meet Danitra Brown”

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Kwame Alexander

Kwame Alexander

American poet and children’s author

Walter Dean Myers

Walter Dean Myers

American children’s author

Laurence Yep

Laurence Yep

American author

Jacqueline Woodson

Jacqueline Woodson

American author

Alice Walker smiling and wearing glasses, a beaded necklace, and a burgundy velvet top at the opening of The Color Purple in New York City.

Alice Walker

American writer

Gwendolyn Brooks

Gwendolyn Brooks

American poet and educator

Dr. Maya Angelou sits and smiles, wearing a black outfit, in a wooden chair at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Maya Angelou

American poet, memoirist, and actress

Nikki Giovanni

Nikki Giovanni

American poet

Lucille Clifton

Lucille Clifton

American poet

Ntozake Shange

Ntozake Shange

American author

June Jordan.

June Jordan

American author

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Mari Evans

American author

Arna Bontemps, photograph by Carl Van Vechten.

Arna Bontemps

American writer

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Elizabeth Coatsworth

American author

Portrait of Shel Silverstein with a bald head and beard, leaning forward with hands clasped and a thoughtful expression.

Shel Silverstein

American illustrator and author

Judy Blume

Judy Blume

American author

Juan Felipe Herrera

Juan Felipe Herrera

American poet, author, and activist

Julia Alvarez

Julia Alvarez

Dominican-American author and educator

Naomi Shihab Nye

Naomi Shihab Nye

American poet and children’s author

Matt de la Peña

Matt de la Peña

American writer

4:043 Dickinson, Emily: A Life of Letters, This is my letter to the world/That never wrote to me; I'll tell you how the Sun Rose/A Ribbon at a time; Hope is the thing with feathers/That perches in the soul

Famous Poets and Poetic Form

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) only confirmed photograph of Emily Dickinson. 1978 scan of a Daguerreotype. ca. 1847; in the Amherst College Archives. American poet. See Notes:

Poetry: First Lines

Illustration of "The Lamb" from "Songs of Innocence" by William Blake, 1879. poem; poetry

A Study of Poetry