By Kayla Phelps

A UK professor is recieving national recognition.

Nikky Finney, a professor in the English department, is a finalist for the National Book Award in poetry.

Five finalists were announced Wednesday.

According to the National Book Foundation website, 1,115 books were submitted in 2010. In the poetry category, 148 book were submitted.

Finney’s work, “Head Off & Split,” was released in February and is her fourth collection of poems.

She said the inspiration for the book came from an experience she is all too familiar with.

“The metaphor came to me when I went home,” she said, “and did something that I’ve done a thousand times before.”

As a child, her mother would ask her to go to the local fish market in her hometown in South Carolina.

The fishmonger would ask, “Head off and split?”

As a child, these words were nothing short of standard procedure.

When she returned to her hometown and heard these words as an adult, they developed a new meaning.

“It made me think about the things that we cut away in life and dismiss,” she said. “What we don’t want to look at because they are too unpopular and tough to deal with.”

Finney said her work was a result of long hours and “burning the midnight oil,” a term her grandparents would use for working late into the night when everyone else was asleep.

She said inspiration comes from “the solo work that a writer does, when you are at your desk and there is nobody there to help you.”

The metaphor for the book surrounds a common theme in her writing.

“I write about tough subjects, different times — things we wish we could push away,” Finney said.

She said she feels honored to recognized for her work.

“I’m so proud that something I have worked so hard on has been pulled forward to another arena — somewhere I’ve never been before,” she said.

Finney teaches creative writing at UK, and students seem to enjoy her classes, said Mark Kornbluh, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences.

“I’m really excited to have her at UK and that students have the opportunity to have classes with a leading poet,” Kornbluh said.

The winners will be announced Nov. 16 in New York. Winners receive $10,000.

“The other four poets are stunning and treasured American poets,” she said. “I’m honored to be counted in this number.”