Uncomfortable Skin: Accessing the Courage and Voices of Persona Poetry and History
What kind of permission do we need to write in the voices of others? It’s easy to play hero, but how do you find enough empathy and courage to authentically inhabit nuanced and complex identities and experiences-particularly those voices which reveal the worst in us and our often ugly histories?
Frank X Walker has published ten collections of poetry, including Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers, which was awarded the 2014 NAACP Image Award for Poetry. He is also the author of Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York, winner of the 2004 Lillian Smith Book Award. A lover of comics, Walker curated “We Wear the Mask: Black Superheroes through the Ages,” an exhibit of his personal collection of action figures, comics, and related memorabilia. Walker coined the term “Affrilachia” and co-founded the Affrilachian Poets His honors include a 2004 Lannan Literary Fellowship for Poetry, the 2008 and 2009 Denny C. Plattner Award for Outstanding Poetry in Appalachian Heritage, as well as fellowships and residences with Cave Canem, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Kentucky Arts Council. Walker serves as Professor of English and African American and Africana Studies at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.