Frank X Walker Biography
Frank X Walker is an African-American poet from Danville, Kentucky. He is a founder member of the Affrilachian Poets and the founding editor and publisher of PLUCK!, the new Journal of Affrilachian Art & Culture, which was launched in 2007.
Frank X Walker Age
X was born on 11 June 1961, in Danville, Kentucky, United States of America. He is 62 years old as of June 2023.
Frank X Walker Education
He was recruited to study engineering at the University of Kentucky, but he changed his major to English. Gurney Norman was one of his writing instructors at the University of Kentucky, where he completed his undergraduate studies. He earned an MFA in writing from Spalding University in May 2003.
Frank X Walker Family
Attempts to establish the identities of his family, his mother, and his father were in vain since no information about them is available to the public. It’s therefore not known whether he has any siblings.
Frank X Walker Career
He was recruited to study engineering at the University of Kentucky, but he changed his major to English. Gurney Norman was one of his writing instructors at the University of Kentucky, where he completed his undergraduate studies. Walker is a founding member of Phi Beta Sigma’s Mu Theta chapter at the University of Kentucky. He now enjoys life membership in the organization. During his undergraduate years, he adopted the middle initial “X”, which was given to him by friends. He earned an MFA in Writing from Spalding University in May 2003. He is a founder member of the Affrilachian Poets and the founding editor and publisher of PLUCK!, the new Journal of Affrilachian Art & Culture, which was launched in 2007.
In January 2010, he returned to the University of Kentucky to accept a position as an English professor. In 2013, he was named Poet Laureate of Kentucky. Walker has five books of poetry, including Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York, which won the Lillian Smith Book Award in 2004. The University of Kentucky Theatre Department has staged a presentation of Walker’s poems. Walker served as a consulting producer for the documentary Coal Black Voices [permanent dead link]. Walker is the Bluegrass Black Arts Consortium’s creator and executive director, the University of Kentucky’s King Cultural Center’s program coordinator, and Purdue University’s Black Cultural Center’s assistant director. He frequently teaches at writing programs such as Fishtrap in Oregon.
Frank X Walker Net Worth
Walker has an estimated net worth of 1 million dollars.
X Walker Awards
2004 Winner of the Lillian Smith Book Award
2006 Thomas D. Clark Literary Award for Excellence, Actors Theatre’s Keeper of the Chronicle Award
2005 Recipient of a $75,000 Lannan Literary Fellowship in Poetry
Kentucky Arts Council Al Smith Fellowship recipient
2013-14 Kentucky Poet Laureate
2014 NAACP Image Award: Outstanding Literary Work in Poetry.
