FARMINGTON — Award-winning poet Nikky Finney will open the University of Maine at Farmington’s fall Visiting Writing Series on Thursday, Sept. 22. The nationally recognized poet and author of four collections of poetry will read from her work at 7:30 p.m.

Finney’s work includes “On Wings Made of Gauze;” “Rice,” which received a PEN America Open Book Award; “The World is Round,” winner of the 2004 Benjamin Franklin Award for Poetry; and “Head Off & Split,” published by Northwestern University Press in February.

She also wrote a collection of stories titled “Heartwood,” published in 1998; and in 2006, she edited “The Ringing Ear,” an anthology of African-American poets writing and reflecting on the South.

Finney is a recipient of the Kentucky Foundation for Women Artists Fellowship Award. She wrote the script for the PBS documentary “For Posterity’s Sake: The Story of Morgan and Marvin Smith,” as well as the liner notes for Toshi Reagon’s folk album “Kindness” and the introduction to Bill Gaskins’ photography collection, “Good and Bad Hair.”

She has taught at Smith and Berea colleges and is professor of creative writing at the University of Kentucky. She is a former faculty member and is now on the board at Cave Canem, a writing home for African-American poets.

The reading at The Landing in Olsen Student Center is free and will be followed by a signing session.