C.R. Lezius Endowed Professorship in the Arts at the University of Kentucky
Frank X Walker will talk about the ways the local bookmobile and libraries multiplied his love of books and early literacy and how integral library archives and research have been to achieving the status as the most prolific poet of historical poetry writing today.
Multidisciplinary artist, Frank X Walker holds the endowed C.R. Lezius Professorship in the Arts at the University of Kentucky. A Cave Canem Fellow and co-founder of the Affrilachian Poets, he is the author of thirteen collections of poetry including Load In Nine Times, winner of the 2025 Pen/Voelcker Award for Poetry and Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers, winner of the NAACP Image Award, and Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York, winner of the Lillian Smith Book Award. Voted one of the most creative professors in the south, he is the originator of the word, Affrilachia, and is dedicated to communicating how literacy and the arts impacts our quality of life. The Lannan Poetry Fellowship Award recipient has degrees from the University of Kentucky and Spalding University as well as four honorary doctorates from the University of KY, Centre College, Spalding University, and Transylvania University.