Ricardo Nazario y Colón is a founding member of the Affrilachian Poets, a former US Marine, and an appointed member of the Kentucky Native American Heritage Commission. In this podcast, he shares a selection of new poems based on the Greek figure Orpheus.
Frank X Walker is a founding member of the Affrilachian Poets, a professor at UK, and Kentucky's Poet Laureate. He has published six volumes of poetry, the most recent of which (Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers) won a NAACP Image Award. Here, he shares poems from a new collection he is currently working on.
Makalani Bandele is an Affrilachian Poet and proud Louisville native. His work has been featured in publication all across the United States, including Pluck!, and he is currently a guest editor for Toe Good Poetry. Here, he shares a selection of new poems.
Joy Priest is an Affrilachian Poet and UK graduate. She is copy editory for Pluck! and has had her work featured in publications all over the United States. Here, she shares all new poetry.
Bianca Spriggs is not only an Affrilachian Poet and Managing Editor for Pluck!, but also plays a part in The Lexington Tattoo Project, The SwallowTale Project, and the annual Wild Women of Poetry Slam, which she founded. Her reading featured all new material, including pieces from a stylistic collection she calls 'Reverie'.
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 asPluck!. In this podcast, Walker discusses the importance of Affrilachia in further opening the doors of Appalachia’s cultural and racial diversity and how Pluck! plays its own role in continuing this exploration. For more information about Affrilachian poets, please head to http://www.affrilachianpoets.org/.
In honor of Black History Month, the UK SAB is hosting "Pluck! Featuring the Affrilachian Poets," at 7 p.m. tonight, Thursday, Feb. 6, in the William T. Young Library auditorium.
English professor and current Kentucky Poet Laureate Frank X Walker appeared on Katerina Stoykova-Klemer's radio show called "Accents: a radio show for literature, art, and culture" on UK’s student-run radio station in August of 2013. The show aired on WRFL 88.1 FM. Together they delved into excerpts from his recent work, Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers.
