On February 6, 2014, the UK Student Activities Board hosted a reading featuring the Affrilachian Poets as part of a celebration of Black History Month. The poets, representing their publication Pluck! the Journal of Affrilachian Arts & Culture, each read a selection of their work individually.
English Professor and Kentucky Poet Laureate Frank X Walker introduces us to the history and origins of Affrilachia while also fast-forwarding to it’s present-day development in Kentucky’s first Journal of Affrilachian Arts & Culture known as Pluck!. In this podcast, Walker discusses the importance of Affrilachia in further opening the doors of Appalachia’s cultural and racial diversity and how Pluck!
Kentucky has a rich literary history, and the new Poet Laureate of the Bluegrass State, Frank X Walker, has a deep respect and knowledge of those great writers before him.
Frank’s Kentucky roots have integrally shaped his perspective as a writer and teacher. The Danville native has said "One of the things I know, having lived in other states than Kentucky, is that it means something to be a Kentucky writer."
Frank created the word “Affrilachia,” which identified the African American experience in the Appalachian region.
The 73rd annual convention of the College Language Association (CLA) will blossom in the Bluegrass this year. Themed, "Mason-Dixon and Maginot Lines: Borders, Boundaries and Barriers in Languages and Literatures," the conference will last from April 11-13, with pre-convention events on Wednesday, April 10.
