Poet, educator, advocate and National Book Award-winner Nikky Finney returns to her native city of Conway, S.C., to address the Coastal Carolina University and Conway communities in a keynote lecture on Friday, April 20, at 7 p.m. in the Johnson Auditorium. Finney will also present an inaugural reading of her poem commissioned by the Charles Joyner Institute for Gullah and African Diaspora Studies at CCU. This event is free and open to the public.

Scheduled in conjunction with National Poetry Month, Finney's visit will highlight her accomplishments as a poet along with her connections to the city of Conway and Horry County. The address will be the kickoff event in a weekend homecoming made possible through a partnership between the City of Conway and CCU's Joyner Institute.

"The welcome home celebration for Nikky Finney was scheduled in April, National Poetry Month, because it offers a perfect opportunity to showcase the intimate and intricate relationship and connection between one's early years, place, passions and artistic expression," said Veronica Gerald, assistant professor in CCU's Department of English and director of the Joyner Institute. "The book for which she received the National Book Award abounds with poems, references and evidence of her years growing up in Conway, the South Carolina Lowcountry, and influences from her Gullah Geechee parents and upbringing."

Finney's national acclaim includes a 20-year tenure as the Guy Davenport Endowed Professor of English at the University of Kentucky. Since 2013, Finney has been the John H. Bennett Jr. Endowed Professor of Creative Writing and Southern Letters at the University of South Carolina, with appointments in both the Department of English Language and Literature and the African American Studies program. Her 2011 acceptance speech for the National Book Award for Poetry - awarded for "Head Off & Split" - has become nationally renowned and is on display along with her work in both print and video form at the African American Museum of History and Culture in Washington, D.C.

Other homecoming events will take place Saturday at Whittemore Park Middle School in Conway, including a meet and greet, book signing and oral history gathering. CCU's Joyner Institute examines the historical migration and scattering of African populations to local geographical areas and the subsequent evolution of blended cultures, specifically Gullah. The work of the institute provides students with experiential learning opportunities, both at home and abroad, that center on interconnections among local, national, and global peoples and their societies.

The Johnson Auditorium is in Room 116 of the E. Craig Wall Sr. College of Business Administration, located at 119 Chanticleer Drive E. on the main Conway campus. Parking is available in lot R, outside the Brittain building and adjacent to the Wall building; for more information, visit coastal.edu/safety/parking.

For more information on this event or the Joyner Institute, contact Gerald at 843-349-2429 or vgerald@coastal.edu, or visit coastal.edu/joynerinstitute. For more cultural events at CCU, visit coastal.edu/culturalarts. Visit Nikky Finney online at nikkyfinney.net.

Social media:

YouTube: Nikky Finney reads her poetry during the 2017 Geography of Hope Conference.

Nikky Finney's 2011 National Book Award in Poetry speech.

Facebook: Nikky Finney