This book launched an intense and important small group of writers of color connected to the University of Kentucky, into a literary movement. Frank X Walker - no period after the X, like Malcolm X's middle initial - coined the term, "Affrilachia" to denote people of color connected to the Appalachian Region, and the term has been adapted by many people not just to denote this group of writers, but all regional people of color. Frank X Walker is a dynamic speaker whose readings have excited audiences all over this country. He was born and raised in Danville, Kentucky, and served as the Director of the Kentucky Governor's School for the Arts for several years. Now he is a professor at the University of Kentucky. "The poems in Affrilachia are funny and sad, tragic and hopeful, angry and determined, and as filled with generosity and love as poetry by any American writer in a generation. This book is powerful and beautiful. It is honest and true. Affrilachia is the most necessary book by a Kentucky writer to be published in many years." - Gurney Norman
Lexington, KY: Old Cove Press, 2000. 100 pages. Trade paperback.