UK’s Walker, Wilkinson inducted into Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 3, 2025) — Three prolific writers and educators, with ties to the University of Kentucky, will be inducted into the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame.
The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning has chosen Frank X Walker and Crystal Wilkinson — both professors of English and African American and Africana Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences — as two of this year’s four living inductees.
“I’m extremely proud to be receiving this honor and joining a list of so many Kentucky writers that I admire and respect,” Walker said. “I think this particular year reflects well on the quality of teachers at UK.”
“Those who have previously been honored are among my greatest mentors,” Wilkinson added. “I’m so very proud to receive this recognition for my work. Kentucky has a rich history and legacy of letters. I’m so honored to be a part of this literary lineage.”
Ronald Eller, professor emeritus in the Department of History, has also been chosen as an inductee. He served for 15 years as the director of the UK Appalachian Center, where he coordinated research and service programs on a wide range of Appalachian policy issues including education, health care, economic development, civic leadership and the environment.
The Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame was created to recognize writers whose work reflects the character and culture of the Commonwealth, and to educate Kentuckians about the state’s rich literary heritage.
“This year’s inductees have made a profound impact on Kentucky and beyond through their plays, stories, poems and books — several of which are set in rural areas of our state,” said Jennifer Mattox, executive director of the Carnegie Center.
The induction ceremony will be 7 p.m. March 10 at the Kentucky Theatre, 214 E. Main St. in Lexington. The event is free and open to the public.
“This will be a great celebration of some of Kentucky’s most accomplished writers,” said Tom Eblen, the Carnegie Center’s literary arts liaison. “All four living inductees plan to attend the induction ceremony, and I’m sure their remarks will be inspirational.”
Frank X Walker: About the author
A native of Danville, Kentucky, Frank X Walker is the first Black writer to be named Kentucky Poet Laureate, serving from 2013 to ’15.
He has published 13 collections of poetry, including “Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers,” which was awarded the 2014 NAACP Image Award for Poetry and the Black Caucus American Library Association Honor Award for Poetry.
Walker is also the author of “Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York,” winner of the 2004 Lillian Smith Book Award, and “Isaac Murphy: I Dedicate This Ride,” which he adapted for stage — earning him the Paul Green Foundation Playwrights Fellowship Award.
His poetry was also dramatized for the 2016 Contemporary American Theater Festival in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, and staged by Message Theater for the 2015 Breeders Cup Festival. 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 at the Lyric Theatre and Cultural Arts Center in 2015; he reprised the exhibit in 2018 at Purdue University and Western Carolina University.
Published in 2023, Walker’s children’s book, “A is for Affrilachia,” published in 2023 by University Press of Kentucky, was the grand prize winner of the 2023 Black Authors Matter Children’s Book Awards.
Walker recently returned to the world of visual art with a collection of new and early multimedia works, “Black Star Seed: When Mi Cyaan Find Di Words,” which was on exhibit at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning in Lexington.
Voted one of the most creative professors in the south, Walker coined the term “Affrilachia” and co-founded the Affrilachian Poets, subsequently publishing the much-celebrated eponymous collection. His honors also include a 2004 Lannan Literary Fellowship for Poetry, the 2008 and 2009 Denny C. Plattner Award for Outstanding Poetry in Appalachian Heritage, the 2013 West Virginia Humanities Council’s Appalachian Heritage Award, as well as fellowships and residences with Cave Canem, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Kentucky Arts Council.
In 2020 Walker received the Donald Justice Award for Poetry from the Fellowship of Southern Writers. The recipient of honorary doctorates from University of Kentucky, Transylvania University, Spalding University and Centre College, Walker is the founding editor of “pluck! The Journal of Affrilachian Arts & Culture.”
Walker is also a finalist for an NAACP Image Award. His book of poetry, “Load in Nine Times: Poems,” is nominated in the category of “Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry.”
You can learn more about Walker here.
Crystal Wilkinson: About the author
As the first Black woman to be named Kentucky Poet Laureate (2021-2023), Wilkinson serves as an inspiration to many in the writing community and has authored several award-winning books.
Wilkinson’s research primarily focuses on the stories of Black women and communities in the Appalachian and rural Southern canon. Her most recent work, “Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts,” is her first foray into nonfiction, delving into the lives and foodways of her own family.
Combining elements of poetry, prose and fiction, the book tells stories from her upbringing, alongside 40 recipes from five generations. Part memoir, part cookbook, Wilkinson’s lyrical imagination also presents a culinary portrait of a family that has lived and worked the earth of the mountains for more than a century.
The book received widespread recognition, which included being the focus of a New York Times article.
Wilkinson is also the author of “Perfect Black,” NAACP Image Award winner; “The Birds of Opulence,” winner of the Ernest J. Gaines Award; “Blackberries, Blackberries,” winner of the Chaffin Award for Appalachian Literature; and “Water Street,” a finalist for both the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. She also is the winner of a 2020 USA Artist Fellowship.
Wilkinson, who was recently named the Bush-Holbrook Endowed Chair of English, has won an O. Henry Prize in fiction. Her short stories, poems and essays have also appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including the Oxford American and Southern Cultures.
Wilkinson has received recognition from the Yaddo Foundation, Hedgebrook, The Vermont Studio Center for the Arts, The Hermitage Foundation and others. She is currently writing a book called “Heartsick,” about her mother’s mental health challenges, which Crown plans to publish in 2026.
“I really want to find my funny bone again,” she said. “I want to leave behind a nuanced look at Black people in rural Kentucky. I think what I’ve been put here to do is hold Kentucky up to the light — my Kentucky up to the light — for everyone else to see. Not so much to judge, but to say, ‘This, too, is Kentucky.’”
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.