Award winner, poet Nikky Finney joins USC faculty | News

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - South Carolina native and National Book Award winner Nikky Finney is joining the faculty at the University of South Carolina.

University spokeswoman Peggy Binette said Wednesday that Finney will hold the John H. Bennett chair of Southern Literature and Creative Writing. She will also hold a joint appointment in the Department of English and the African-American Studies Program.

Finny won the 2011 National Book Award for Poetry for her collection titled "Head Off and Split."

English Department chair William Rivers says Finney's work is ranked among the best in American poetry.

She has taught at the University of Kentucky since 1991. She is a Columbia native and daughter of civil rights attorney and retired Chief Justice Ernest Finney.

Her appointment is for the fall semester beginning Aug. 16.

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