Nikky Finney

Nikky Finney is the Provost’s Distinguished Service Professor of English at the University of Kentucky. Her father was a civil rights attorney and chief justice of South Carolina, and Finney’s sense of social justice is clearly evident in her work. She has written four books of poetry: her newest, “Head Off & Split” (Triquarterly), which received the 2011 National Book Award; “The World Is Round”; “Rice”; and “On Wings Made of Gauze.”

Previous National Book Festival Appearances

• 2012