Nikky Finney was recently awarded the National Book Award for Poetry, and I’d never even heard of her up until the video of her acceptance speech circulated the net. A speech that according to host John Lithgow was the best acceptance speech he’d ever heard in his life.
An activist poet, she resurrects the souls of her ancestors in the room and proceeded to celebrate them, as well as the people in her life.
Nikky thanked her teacher by telling this story. Nikky was “19, and sitting on a Talladega college wall,” dreaming about living the life of a poet.
“Miss Finney,” her teacher said, “Do you really have time to sit there? Have you finished reading every book in the library?”
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