PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (Aug. 31, 2026) – Award-winning poet Nikky Finney is Prairie View A&M University’s Toni Morrison Writing Program’s Writer-in-Residence for this academic year.
The acclaimed poet and social justice advocate joins PVAMU’s literary community as the University celebrates its sesquicentennial, bringing decades of experience as a writer, educator and mentor to the campus.
“The opportunity to be the Toni Morrison Writer-in-Residence at Prairie View A&M University during its jubilant 150th year celebration feels precious, transformative, majestic; an incalculable and unfolding gift sent directly from the hands and hearts of the ancestors,” Finney said.
Finney, the winner of the 2011 National Book Award for Poetry for Head Off & Split, joins a distinguished line of writers who have held the residency since the program’s founding.
A native of Conway, South Carolina, Finney earned a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Talladega College in Alabama. She was a professor at the University of Kentucky for 23 years before joining the University of South Carolina, where she holds the John H. Bennett, Jr. Chair in Creative Writing and Southern Studies and serves as a Carolina Distinguished Professor. She is also a founding member of the Affrilachian Poets and a Chancellor of the American Academy of Poets.
Her honors include the Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets, the PEN Open Book Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award for Poetry and the Aiken-Taylor Award. She is also an inductee of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her work is featured in the ongoing inaugural exhibition of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.
Finney’s writing explores Black history, memory, culture, resilience and social justice, reflecting a career dedicated to illuminating the experiences and voices of Black communities.
Established in 2021, PVAMU’s Toni Morrison Writing Program is designed to help students think deeply, read critically and write compellingly, pairing them with acclaimed authors for mentorship, master classes and manuscript feedback.
As PVAMU celebrates its milestone anniversary, Finney’s residency will be woven into celebrations, including the Founders’ Day and Honors Recognition Convocation in March 2027.
Finney’s residency stands as a fitting tribute to The Hill’s enduring commitment to academic excellence, inspirational storytelling, and the next generation of writers, poets, storytellers, and narrators.
“This is simply the honor of a lifetime,” Finney said. “To say the name Prairie View A&M University in the proud HBCU house that I grew up in always brought a sense of high academic reverence to the air. To speak the name Toni Morrison in that same house always lifted the quotidian up to the sacred.”
By Christine Won
-PVAMU-