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Frank X Walker in Matheson Library on April 16 |
Affrilachian poet Frank X Walker shared his powerful mixture of liberating literary style, profound insight, and the cultural struggles of a people during readings April 16 at the Matheson Library at West Kentucky Community & Technical College.
More than 200 students, faculty, staff and community attended one of two readings held at the Matheson Library. Area secondary students also had a reading in the Haws Gymnasium.
Walker coined the term “Affrilachia” to describe African-Americans from the Appalachian region of the United States. Walker co-founded the Affrilachian Poets group in 1991 as a way of challenging the notion that only literary works from white artists came from the Appalachian region.
“I believe it is my responsibility to say as loudly and often as possible that people and artists of color are part of the past and present of the multi-state Appalachian region extending from northern Mississippi to southern New York,” Walker said.
A native of Danville, Walker, 45, is the author of Black Box, Affrilachia and Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York. The 2005 recipient of the Lannan Literary Fellowship for Poetry, Walker received a degree from the University of Kentucky and his master of fine arts degree from Spalding University. |
