Frank X Walker is the author of three collections of poetry: Affrilachia; Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York; and Black Box. He is the founding editor and publisher of PLUCK! The Journal of Affrilachian Arts & Culture. A founding member of the Affrilachian Poets and a Cave Canem Fellow, he received the prestigious 2005 Lannan Foundation Poetry Fellowship. His other awards and honors include honorary doctoral degrees from Transylvania University and University of Kentucky, the 2004 Lillian Smith Book Award for Buffalo Dance, a Kentucky Arts Council Al Smith Fellowship, and the 2006 Thomas D. Clark Award for Literary Excellence. A graduate of the University of Kentucky and Spalding University’s MFA in Writing Program, he is Lecturer of English and Writer in Residence at Northern Kentucky University.