Frank X Walker


Frank X Walker Jr. is an African American poet from Danville, Kentucky. Walker coined the word "Affrilachia", signifying the importance of the African American presence in Appalachia: the "new word... spoke to the union of Appalachian identity and the region's African-American culture and history". He is a professor in the English department at the University of Kentucky and was the Poet Laureate of Kentucky from 2013 to 2015.

Biography

Walker was born in Danville, Kentucky, the second of eleven children. He grew up in Danville, where the family lived in public housing projects. He was an avid reader as a child. Walker describes himself as both a "nerd" and an athlete in his teenage years. At Danville High School, he played American football on the school team, was a member of several clubs, and was twice elected class president.
He was recruited to attend the University of Kentucky in engineering, but changed his major to English. Gurney Norman was one of his writing teachers at the University of Kentucky, where he received his undergraduate degree. Walker is a charter member of the Mu Theta chapter of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity at the University of Kentucky. He now holds life membership within the organization. It was during his college years that he adopted the middle initial "X", which was given to him by friends. He completed an MFA in Writing at Spalding University in May 2003.
A founding member of the Affrilachian Poets, he also launched PLUCK! – The New Journal of Affrilachian Art & Culture in 2007. In January 2010, he returned to the University of Kentucky to accept a position as professor in the English Department. In 2013, he was appointed Poet Laureate of Kentucky, the first African American to hold that position.
Walker has published five volumes of poetry; Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York won the 2004 Lillian Smith Book Award. Walker's poems have been converted into a stage production by the University of Kentucky Theatre Department. Walker was involved in the documentary Coal Black Voices, where he was a consulting producer.
Walker is founder and executive director of the Bluegrass Black Arts Consortium, Program Coordinator of the University of Kentucky's King Cultural Center, and assistant director of Purdue University's Black Cultural Center. He regularly teaches in writing programs like Fishtrap in Oregon and SplitRock at the University of Minnesota.

Awards

Poetry

  • .

  • Editor

  • Video

  • Writing: Getting Ideas on Paper, PBS's GED Connection Series
  • In Performance At the Governor's Mansion
  • Living the Story: The Civil Rights Movement in Kentucky.

    Video producer

  • Coal Black Voices , consulting producer, received the 2002–2003 Jesse Stuart Award presented by the Kentucky School Media Association
  • KY2NYC: Art/life & 9.11, exploring the effects of 9.11 on the arts community.