Frank X Walker is a native of Danville, Kentucky, and professor of English at the University of Kentucky. A former Kentucky poet laureate, he is founding member of the Affrilachian Poets. Walker created the word Affrilachia to help make visible the Black experience in the Appalachian South. He is the author of many poetry volumes, including Affrilachia, Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York, Black Box: Poems, When Winter Come: The Ascension of York, and Isaac Murphy: I Dedicate This Ride.