NOVEMBER 12, 2009 ISSUE
Kentucky Writer, Poet Frank X. Walker at ASU November 19
Writer and poet Frank X. Walker is the final author featured in the fall 2009 Visiting Writers Series at ASU. Walker will present a reading at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 19, at the student union. Photo by Rachel Eliza GriffithsWriter and poet Frank X. Walker closes the fall semester’s Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series at ASU with a reading Thursday, November 19.
Walker’s reading begins at 7:30 p.m. in Plemmons Student Union’s Table Rock Room. Books will be available for sale and signing following the presentation. During his visit to ASU, Walker will give an afternoon reading to middle school students at the Western Youth Network.
Walker is the author of the poetry collections When Winter Come: The Ascension of York, a dramatic re-imagining of Lewis and Clark’s legendary exploration of the American West, Black Box and Affrilachia.
A multidisciplinary artist, Walker is co-founder of the Affrilachian Poets. He coined the term Affrilachian to describe an African-American who lives in Appalachia.
Walker’s poetry collection Buffalo Dance: the Journey of York won the 35th Annual Lillian Smith Book Award. Affrilachia was a Kentucky Public Librarians’ Choice Award nominee.
A Kentucky Arts Council Al Smith Fellowship recipient, Walker has had his poems adapted for a stage production by the University of Kentucky Theatre Department and widely anthologized in numerous collections.
Walker is a graduate of the University of Kentucky. He completed an MFA in writing at Spalding University. In 2001, the University of Kentucky awarded Walker an honorary doctorate of humanities for his collective community work and artistic achievements.
Walker is a writer in residence and lecturer of English at Northern Kentucky University. He also regularly teaches in writing programs such as Fishtrap in Oregon and Split Rock at the University of Minnesota.
Walker has served as founder/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 also is the recipient of the 2006 Thomas D. Clark Literary Award for Excellence, the Actors Theatre’s Keeper of the Chronicle Award and a 2005 Lannan Literary Fellowship in Poetry.
Parking is free on campus after 5:00 p.m. The parking deck on College Street adjacent to Belk Library and Information Commons provides convenient access to Plemmons Student Union.
For more information, call 828-262-2871 or click to www.visitingwriters.appstate.edu.
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