Nikky Finney
A poet of profound grace who won the National Book Award for 'Head Off & Split,' giving voice to the Black Southern experience and history.
Born 1957 (age 69)·American poet·Birthday: August 26·Baby Boomers
Biography
Nikky Finney won the National Book Award in 2011 for 'Head Off & Split,' a collection dissecting politics, love, and survival with a title referencing a fishmonger's preparation. Born in South Carolina in 1957, she came of age during the Civil Rights movement, which shaped her lens. She studied at Talladega College, a historically Black institution, and taught at the University of Kentucky for two decades before returning to her home state to hold a prestigious chair at the University of South Carolina. Her poetry channels history, memory, and social conscience from the soil of the American South. Her work weaves personal narrative with the larger arcs of Black life and resistance.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Nikky was born in 1957, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Nikky Was Born
The biggest hits of 1957
#1 Movie
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Best Picture
The Bridge on the River Kwai
#1 TV Show
Gunsmoke
Nikky's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1957Born
Sputnik launches the Space Age
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $10,550Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"All Shook Up" — Elvis PresleyBest Picture: The Bridge on the River Kwai
1962Started school
Cuban Missile Crisis brings the world to the brink
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $12,800Min wage: $1.15/hrPresident: John F. Kennedy"Stranger on the Shore" — Acker BilkBest Picture: Lawrence of Arabia
1970Became a teenager
First Earth Day; The Beatles break up
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $17,000Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Bridge over Troubled Water" — Simon & GarfunkelBest Picture: Patton
1973Could drive
US withdraws from Vietnam; Roe v. Wade decided
Gas: $0.39/galHome: $22,100Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" — Tony Orlando & DawnBest Picture: The Sting
1975Could vote
Fall of Saigon ends the Vietnam War
Gas: $0.57/galHome: $27,600Min wage: $2.10/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Love Will Keep Us Together" — Captain & TennilleBest Picture: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1978Turned 21
First test-tube baby born
Gas: $0.63/galHome: $35,300Min wage: $2.65/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Shadow Dancing" — Andy GibbBest Picture: The Deer Hunter
1987Turned 30
Black Monday stock market crash
Gas: $0.90/galHome: $72,400Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Walk Like an Egyptian" — The BanglesBest Picture: The Last Emperor
1997Turned 40
Princess Diana dies in Paris car crash; Harry Potter published
Gas: $1.23/galHome: $104,100Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Candle in the Wind 1997" — Elton JohnBest Picture: Titanic
2007Turned 50
iPhone released; Great Recession begins
Gas: $2.80/galHome: $172,600Min wage: $5.85/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Irreplaceable" — BeyonceBest Picture: No Country for Old Men
2017Turned 60
#MeToo movement; solar eclipse crosses the US
Gas: $2.42/galHome: $195,000Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Donald Trump"Shape of You" — Ed SheeranBest Picture: The Shape of Water
2026Age 69 today
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- Won the 2011 National Book Award for Poetry for her collection 'Head Off & Split'.
- Served as the John H. Bennett, Jr. Chair in Southern Letters and Literature at the University of South Carolina.
- Authored four acclaimed books of poetry, including 'Rice' and 'The World Is Round'.
- Was a founding member of the Affrilachian Poets, a collective of Black Appalachian writers.
Did You Know?
Her birth name is Lynn Carol Finney; 'Nikky' is a childhood nickname.
Her father was a lawyer and civil rights attorney who worked on school desegregation cases.
She has cited the poet Gwendolyn Brooks as a major early influence.
She is a keen photographer, and visual imagery plays a crucial role in her poetic style.
“History is a raucous, ongoing conversation between the past and the present.”
