Poetry off the Shelf: Nikky Finney

Nikky Finney writes powerful poems of an active witness on topics ranging from Hurricane Katrina to Rosa Parks to the career path of Condoleezza Rice. A co-founder of the Affrilachian Poets, she holds the John H. Bennett Jr. Chair of Southern Letters and Creative Writing at the University of South Carolina. She is editor of the anthology The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South and the author of a short story collection, Heartwood. Her fourth collection of poetry, Head Off & Split, won the National Book Award.

Co-sponsored with Northwestern University Press and the Northwestern Program in American Studies