Frank X Walker, a multidisciplinary artist and Al Smith Fellowship recipient, will open the 2013-14 β,β on Thursday, Sept. 19, at 8:30 p.m., in 91΄σΙρβs Lehman Auditorium.
As founder of the , Walker is editor of: Pluck! The Journal of Affrilachian Arts & Culture; America! Whatβs My Name?; The βOtherβ Poets Unfurl the Flag (Wind Publications, 2007); and Eclipsing a Nappy New Millennium.
“Walker’s work explores landscapes and place, social justice and American history,” said , assistant professor of at 91΄σΙρ. “His great gift is channeling the voices of people from long past and from the near neighborhood.”
Walker is the author of: Buffalo Dance: the Journey of York (University Press of Kentucky, 2003), winner of the 35th Annual Lillian Smith Book Award; and Affrilachia (Old Cove Press, 2000), a Kentucky Public Librariansβ Choice Award nominee. He is also the author of two other poetry collections.
Walkerβs poems have been converted into a stage production by the University of Kentucky theater department and widely anthologized in numerous collections, including: The Appalachian Journal; Limestone; Roundtable; My Brothers Keeper; Spirit and Flame β An Anthology of Contemporary African American Poetry; and Role Call β A Generational Anthology of Social and Political Black Literature and Art.
He is a graduate of the University of Kentucky and completed an MFA in writing at Spalding University. His latest work is a collection of poems, Isaac Murphy: I Dedicate This Ride.
More information
Sign-language interpretation is available upon request.
β’ General public, $5
β’ 91΄σΙρ students (with identification), free