SC poet, 2011 National Book winner speaks at USC

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina poet and National Book Award winner Nikky Finney is lecturing on the art of writing at the University of South Carolina.

USC spokeswoman Peggy Binette says Finney is delivering the 15th annual Robert Smalls Lecture Thursday at the Darla Moore School of Business on the Columbia campus.

Finney won the 2011 National Book Award for poetry for her most recent publication, “Head Off & Spit.”

The lecture series was launched in 1997 to honor Smalls, who was born into slavery and became a Civil War hero and congressman from South Carolina during Reconstruction.

The address is free and open to the public.