The Frostburg State University Appalachian Festival is pleased to feature a talented cadre of Appalachian poets at this year’s event, on the campus of FSU, Saturday, September 18. Brought together by their artistry and appreciation for Appalachian regionalism, this group defies deeply entrenched regional stereotypes. Referring to themselves as Affrilachian Poets, they are committed to challenging images of white homogeneity in the mountain region.

Steadily gaining national acclaim since the 1990s, this collection of writers has become a true social movement. And the term Affrilachian, coined by writer Frank X Walker, is now commonplace in Appalachian Studies and Sociology courses throughout the eastern US.

Explaining the roots of its founding, the essay, Affrilachian Poets: A History of the Word, provides an introduction to the collective’s purpose.

The Affrilachian Poets: A History of the Word

What’s in a Name?

In 1991, Frank X Walker learned he did not exist.

That year, a reading in Lexington, Ky., featured four authors from the bluegrass state and poet Nikky Finney. Dubbed “The Best of Southern Writing,” the reading changed the course of Walker’s life. The original title of the event, “The Best of Appalachian Writing,” had been altered to accommodate Finney, a South Carolina native. Finney, who is African-American, was the sole voice of color in the lineup. 

Walker, then a budding poet and an experienced playwright and visual artist, knew African-American writers from Kentucky should have been represented. He also felt the name change from “Appalachian” to “Southern” required an explanation. Walker’s disappointment led him to Webster’s Dictionary and, to his dismay, a definition that mentioned “white residents from the mountains.” The artist wasn’t white, but he was from Kentucky, Danville to be exact. Didn’t his work matter too? Wasn’t he, like his white peers, creating in the great shadow of the mountains? This definition of Appalachian would not suffice, and Walker was moved to a moment of clarity. He would create his own word that described people of African descent from the Appalachian region: Affrilachian.

It was the stereotype of an all white and poor Appalachia that the word Affrilachian would fight. A 13-state expanse reaching as far north as New York and, ironically, including Finney’s Southern birthplace, the Appalachian region is more than Kentucky, more than rural, and more than one ethnicity can define. The word Affrilachian would stand as a reminder of the diversity of the region. Don’t call it reactionary, call it revolutionary.   From http://www.affrilachianpoets.com/history.htm

An audio sample of their work is available on Chicago Public Radio. The Affrilachian Poets will be reading at 3:30 PM in Cook Chapel, in the lower level of Frost Hall. Featured poets attending this year’s Festival include:

Frank X Walker

Multidisciplinary artist Frank X Walker is a native of Danville, Ky., a graduate of Danville High School and the University of Kentucky, and completed an MFA in Writing at Spalding University in May 2003. He has lectured, conducted workshops, read poetry and exhibited at over 250 national conferences and universities. A founding member of the Affrilachian Poets, he is the editor of Eclipsing a Nappy New Millennium and the author of three poetry collections: Black Box (Old Cove Press, 2005); Buffalo Dance: the Journey of York (University of Kentucky Press, 2003) and Affrilachia (Old Cove Press, 2000). He is the winner of the 35th Annual Lillian Smith Book Award; Affrilachia has been nominated for a Kentucky Public Librarians’ Choice Award.

Walker co-produced a video documentary, Coal Black Voices: The History of the Affrilachian Poets, which received the 2002-2003 Jesse Stuart Award presented by the Kentucky School Media Association, and produced a documentary exploring the effects of 9/11 on the arts community, KY2NYC: Art/life & 9.11. His visual art is in the private collections of Spike Lee, Opal Palmer Adisa, Morris FX Jeff, and Bill and Camille Cosby. He has held board positions for the Kentucky Humanities Council, Appalshop and the Kentucky Writers Coalition as well as government appointments to the Cabinet for Education, Arts and Humanities and the Committee on Gifted Education. Recently, he served as vice president of the Kentucky Center for the Arts and the executive director of Kentucky’s Governor’s School for the Arts.

Mitchell L. H. Douglas

Mitchell L. H. Douglas is an assistant professor of creative writing at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. His poetry has appeared in Callaloo, The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South (University of Georgia Press), Crab Orchard Review and Zoland Poetry Volume II (Zoland Books), among others. A founding member of the Affrilachian Poets, Cave Canem fellow and poetry editor for PLUCK! The Journal of Affrilachian Arts & Culture, Cooling Board: A Long-Playing Poem is his debut collection. Before its publication by Red Hen Press, Cooling Board was a runner-up for the 2007 Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize, a semifinalist for the 2007 Blue Lynx Prize and a semifinalist for the 2006 Crab Orchard Series in Poetry First Book Award. A native of Louisville, Ky., he resides in Indianapolis.

Ricardo Nazario y Colón

Ricardo Nazario y Colón was born in the South Bronx and now lives in Georgeton, Ky.

While attending the University of Kentucky, he became one of the co-founders of the Affrilachian Poets. Currently, he is a doctoral student at the University of Kentucky and works as the director of the Office of Diversity Programs for Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Ky.

Crystal Good

Crystal Good attended West Virginia State University (communications/African-American studies) after modeling in Atlanta, New York and Chicago. This Libra, mother of three, writer and arts educator is the recipient of the West Virginia Governors Innovative Artist Award (with Museum in the Community), 2004. She regularly produces poetry events and is a proud member of the Affrilachian Poets.

Bianca Spriggs

Bianca Spriggs is an events coordinator for the Lexington Art League and a freelance instructor of composition, literature and creative writing. She received a bachelor’s in history from Transylvania University and her master’s in English at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Spriggs was the recipient of the Sophia Danielle Arnold scholarship fund and is a certified workshop trainer through the Empowerment Institute founded by David Gershon and Gail Straub. A self-proclaimed “arts enthusiast,” Spriggs has performed and facilitated artist enrichment workshops across the U.S. She is the creator and programmer of the Gypsy Poetry Slam featured annually at the Kentucky Women Writers Conference. A Kentucky Humanities Council lecturer and Cave Canem fellow, Spriggs is the author of “Kaffir Lily,” forthcoming from Wind Publications, and her work may be found in the anthologies, New Growth: Recent Kentucky Writings and America! What’s My Name? and the journals, Caduceus, Alehouse, TORCH and the Appalachian Heritage Magazine.

Keith Wilson

Keith S. Wilson is an Affrilachian poet currently living in Northern Kentucky.  He is a graduate from Northern Kentucky University, with a BA in English.  Keith runs a personal blog on writing called The Robotto-Mulatto and writes for the blog We Who Are About To Die, as well.  He is also an editor for the multi-lingual online publication Public Republic.  Keith is currently working on a manuscript of poetry as well as a novel.