University of Kentucky professor to return to hometown to teach
National Book Award winner Nikky Finney will serve as the John H. Bennett Jr. Chair of Southern Literature and Creative Writing this fall. The chair is a joint appointment in the Department of English and the African American Studies Program.
While Finney has taught at the University of Kentucky since 1991, she is a Columbia native, giving her a unique perspective for her new position at USC.
“From my intimate vantage point, being a daughter of South Carolina, the flagship university named after the state seems to be charging forward into the bright lights of the future, positioning an impressive array of administrators and hiring amazing faculty and staff,” Finney said in a release.
Finney has a special perspective on African-American studies; her father Ernest Finney is a civil rights attorney and a retired South Carolina chief justice.
Finney won the National Book Award in 2011 for her collection of poetry “Head Off and Split.” She has published three other poetry collections and one collection of short stories. She also edited a poetry anthology.
She has also won the Benjamin Franklin Award for Poetry and the PEN America Open Book Award, both for her poetry collections.
During her 22 years at Kentucky, Finney also served as a visiting professor at Smith College for two years and Berea College for one year.