Podcasts about affrilachian poets

Author and arts administrator JC McPherson is also a trained master electrician who approaches poetry with a troubleshooting mindset. He says that "writing a poem is no different than wiring up a new room, like putting new lights in the outlets. And it's a process."JC often returns to his favorite writing prompt because it "shakes something loose" and helps him relax into his writing. Shake up your writing process and have fun while doing it with his help!About JC McPhersonJC McPherson has a background in writing, electricity, and general troubleshooting. A recipient of the 2022-2023 National Leaders of Color Fellowship through South Arts, he is an associate for the Kentucky Black Writers Collaborative, Creative Writing Instructor, and arts administrator. He is a member of the Affrilachian Poets and the author of numerous collections of poetry. He's also a member of the Society of American Baseball Research. 

In the latest installment of our minisode series, Poetry Corner,  Kendra Winchester is joined by special guest upfromsumdirt.Books MentionedThe Second Stop Is Jupiter by upfromsumdirtMumbo Jumbo by Ishmael ReedQuilting: Poems 1987-1990 by Lucille CliftonLet the Dead In by Saida Agostiniupfromsumdirt, Ron Davis, is an autodidactic poet and award-winning visual artist based in Lexington, Kentucky. He is the author of two previous poetry collections, Deifying a Total Darkness and To Emit Teal, and is currently storyboarding a graphic novel based on his poetry. He has also published works in anthologies and periodicals including The Future of Black: Afrofuturism, Black Comics, and Superhero Poetry; Anthology of Appalachian Writers; Hayden's Ferry Review; and more. He received the Kentucky Al Smith Award in Art in 2010 and the Southeastern Libraries Association Award for Excellence in Original Artwork in 2022. His artwork is featured in the NAACP Image Award-winning poetry collection, Perfect Black by Crystal Wilkinson and A is for Affrilachia by Frank X Walker. He was inducted as a member into the Affrilachian Poets in 2022.Website | Instagram---Show Your Love for Read Appalachia! You can support Read Appalachia by heading over to our merch store, tipping us over on Ko-fi, or by sharing the podcast with a friend! For more ways to support the show, head over to our Support page. Follow Read Appalachia Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok ContactFor feedback or to just say “hi,” you can reach us at readappalachia[at]gmail.comMusic by Olexy from Pixabay

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 27, 2023) – Frank X Walker is the director of UK's Master of Fine Arts program in creative writing. The state of Kentucky has a long and storied tradition of writers – across genres of fiction, poetry and essays – who are deeply connected to the state – its geography and landscape, its history and challenges. The program's current faculty roster includes nationally recognized authors across a number of genres.  Walker is extending the legacy of UK and Kentucky's reputation as central to the writing community, working as a poet, writer and artist. He has recently published a book geared toward a younger audience and is now at work on a new collection of poems that examines a dramatic family history that dates back to the Civil War era.  Walker is a founding member of the Affrilachian Poets, a founder/Executive Director of the Bluegrass Black Arts Consortium, the Program Coordinator of the University of Kentucky's King Cultural Center, and a Kentucky Arts Council Al Smith Fellowship recipient.  A native of Danville, Ky., Walker is a graduate of the University of Kentucky and was the 2013-14 Poet Laureate for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He sat down with Behind the Blue recently to discuss his current and future writing endeavors as well as how he pitches the UK MFA program to outstanding young talent.  "Behind the Blue" is available on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher and Spotify. Become a subscriber to receive new episodes of “Behind the Blue” each week. UK's latest medical breakthroughs, research, artists and writers will be featured, along with the most important news impacting the university.  For questions or comments about this or any other episode of "Behind the Blue," email BehindTheBlue@uky.edu or tweet your question with #BehindTheBlue. Transcripts for this or other episodes of Behind the Blue can be downloaded from the show's blog page.  To discover what's wildly possible at the University of Kentucky, click here.

Bernard Clay was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and he spent most of his childhood and high school years there. He holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Kentucky, and he is a member of the Affrilachian Poets collective. His work has been published in Appalachian Heritage, The Limestone Review, Blackbone: 25 Years of the Affrilachian Poets, and various other journals and anthologies. His book English Lit was published by Old Cove/Swallow Press in 2021. He lives on a farm in eastern Kentucky with his wife Lauren Kallmeyer, an herbalist who serves as the director of Kentucky Heartwood's Forest Council. Joseph Seamon Cotter Sr. was born on February 2, 1861, in Bardstown, Kentucky, and he died in Lousiville, Kentucky in 1949. When he was just eight years old, he had to leave school to help support his family. At the age of 22, Cotter returned to his formal education and eventually served for more than fifty years as a teacher and administrator in several Louisville schools. In 1891, he married Maria F. Cox; they had three children, including his eldest son, Joseph Seamon Cotter Jr., who was also a talented poet and playwright. According to Oxford Reference, Joseph Cotter Sr. provided an important “voice during one of the most difficult eras of African American history, and he was a man who backed his words with action in building the African American community.” Links:Read "Mr. Nap's Fight" and "Appalachian Smitten"Read "Dr. Booker T. Washington to the National Negro Business League"Bernard ClayBernard Clay's websiteEnglish Lit reviewed in Southern Review of Books Bernard Clay reading at the historic Western Library of the Louisville Free Public LibraryJoseph Seamon Cotter Sr. Bio and poems at Poets.orgBio and Bibliography at the Carnegie Center--Kentucky Writers Hall of FameMentioned in this episode:KnoxCountyLibrary.orgThank you for listening and sharing this podcast. Explore life-changing resources and events, sign up for newsletters, follow us on social media, and more through our website, www.knoxcountylibrary.org.Rate & review on Podchaser

Bernard Clay was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and he spent most of his childhood and high school years there. He holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Kentucky, and he is a member of the Affrilachian Poets collective. His work has been published in Appalachian Heritage, The Limestone Review, Blackbone: 25 Years of the Affrilachian Poets, and various other journals and anthologies. His book English Lit was published by Swallow Press in 2021. He lives on a farm in eastern Kentucky with his wife Lauren Kallmeyer, an herbalist who serves as the director of Kentucky Heartwood's Forest Council. Joseph Seamon Cotter Sr. was born on February 2, 1861, in Bardstown, Kentucky, and he died in Lousiville, Kentucky in 1949. When he was just eight years old, he had to leave school to help support his family. At the age of 22, Cotter returned to his formal education and eventually served for more than fifty years as a teacher and administrator in several Louisville schools. In 1891, he married Maria F. Cox; they had three children, including his eldest son, Joseph Seamon Cotter Jr., who was also a talented poet and playwright. According to Oxford Reference, Joseph Cotter Sr. provided an important “voice during one of the most difficult eras of African American history, and he was a man who backed his words with action in building the African American community.” Links:Read "Mr. Nap's Fight" and "Appalachian Smitten"Read "Dr. Booker T. Washington to the National Negro Business League"Bernard ClayBernard Clay's websiteEnglish Lit reviewed in Southern Review of Books Bernard Clay reading at the historic Western Library of the Louisville Free Public LibraryJoseph Seamon Cotter Sr. Bio and poems at Poets.orgBio and Bibliography at the Carnegie Center--Kentucky Writers Hall of FameMentioned in this episode:KnoxCountyLibrary.orgThank you for listening and sharing this podcast. Explore life-changing resources and events, sign up for newsletters, follow us on social media, and more through our website, www.knoxcountylibrary.org.Rate & review on Podchaser

IG @nerdacitypodcast Hosted by DuEwa Frazier @drduewawrites www.duewafrazier.com June 2021 Summer of the Word featuring Amanda Johnston BIO Amanda Johnston was born in East St. Louis, IL, and raised in Austin, TX. She began writing poetry while living in Kentucky. Her writing has been published widely and she has presented at numerous literary conferences and events. She earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine. She is the author of two chapbooks, GUAP and Lock & Key, and the full-length collection Another Way to Say Enter. Her poetry and interviews have appeared in numerous online and print publications, among them, Callaloo, Poetry, Puerto del Sol, Muzzle, Pluck!, No, Dear and the anthologies, Small Batch, Full, di-ver-city, The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South, and Women of Resistance: Poems for a New Feminism. Honors include the Christina Sergeyevna Award from the Austin International Poetry Festival, a joint finalist for the Freedom Plow Award for Poetry & Activism from Split This Rock, and multiple Artist Enrichment grants from Kentucky Foundation for Women. Amanda is a member of the Affrilachian Poets and has received fellowships from Cave Canem Foundation and the Austin Project at the University of Texas. Johnston is a Stonecoast MFA faculty member, a co-founder of Black Poets Speak Out, and founder/executive director of Torch Literary Arts. Named one of Blavity's "13 Black Poets You Should Know," Amanda's work has been featured on Bill Moyers, the Poetry Society of America's series In Their Own Words, and the Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day series. She was commissioned to curate a collection of poems for the Poetry Coalition on the theme Where My Dreaming and My Loving Life: Poetry & the Body. ➡️Subscribe and Like at http://www.YouTube.com/duewaworld ❤️Support future episodes of the podcast by donating to https://PayPal.me/duewaworld or Cash app $duewaworld. Twitter: @nerdacitypod1 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/duewafrazier/support

This week is a hybrid episode as we slowly creep back into a recording schedule after a nice long summer break. We've got Appalachia and Eastern Kentucky on our minds because of the recent catastrophic flooding in parts of the state so we decided that we'd rebroadcast part of an earlier episode with Kendra Winchester, founder of Read Appalachia on Instagram, who champions Appalachian writers on her feed. But we also had the opportunity to speak this week with Bobi Conn, an Appalachian author and friend of the show who we interviewed in June of 2020 about her debut memoir In the Shadow of the Valley, a raw and unflinching look at growing up in Eastern Kentucky and her dysfunctional family. Bobi has a new novel coming out at the end of August call A Woman In Time that incorporates more family stories she heard about her great grandpa, a moonshiner, and her great grandmother, who held the family together. Did you know that helping flood victims can be as easy as buying a book? This Saturday, August 6, Carmichaels Bookstore in Louisville KY will donate all profits from book sales from all 3 stores and their website to Eastern Kentucky flood relief funds organized by Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky and the Hindman Settlement School. Their website is www.carmichaelsbookstore.com. We will be back next week with the true start of Season 7 and an all new episode. Happy Reading! You can find Bobi Conn on social media @BobiConn and her website www.bobiconn.com. You can find Kendra Winchester @readappalachia and @Kdwinchester You can find shownotes for any episode at our website www.perksofbeingabooklover.com. We are also on Instagram @perksofbeingabookloverpod and on FB Perks of Being a BookLover Books Mentioned in this Episode: 1- A Woman in Time by Bobi Conn 2- In the Shadow of the Valley by Bobi Conn 3- Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff 4- Embers on the Wind by Lisa Williamson Rosenberg 5- Finna by Nino Cipri 6- Defekt by Nino Cipri 7- Percy Jackson & The Olympians by Rick Riordan 8- Sabriel by Garth Nix 9- Books by Tamora Pierce 10- Twilight by Stephanie Meyer 11- Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray 12- Rise to the Sun by Leah Johnson 13- The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw 14- The Birds of Opulence by Crystal Wilkinson 15- Affrilachia by Frank X. Walker 16- Southernmost by Silas House 17- Black Bone: 25 Years of Affrilachian Poets edited by Bianca Lynne Spriggs and Jeremy Paden 18- Water Street by Crystal Wilkinson 19- Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance 20- Even As We Breathe by Annette Saunooke Cladsaddle 21- Step Into the Circle: Writers in Modern Appalachia edited by Amy Greene and Trent Thomson

This week is a hybrid episode as we slowly creep back into a recording schedule after a nice long summer break. We've got Appalachia and Eastern Kentucky on our minds because of the recent catastrophic flooding in parts of the state so we decided that we'd rebroadcast part of an earlier episode with Kendra Winchester, founder of Read Appalachia on Instagram, who champions Appalachian writers on her feed. But we also had the opportunity to speak this week with Bobi Conn, an Appalachian author and friend of the show who we interviewed in June of 2020 about her debut memoir "In the Shadow of the Valley", a raw and unflinching look at growing up in Eastern Kentucky and her dysfunctional family. Bobi has a new novel coming out at the end of August that incorporates more family stories she heard about her great grandpa, a moonshiner, and her great grandmother, who held the family together. Did you know that helping flood victims can be as easy as buying a book? This Saturday, August 6, Carmichaels Bookstore in Louisville KY will donate all profits from book sales from all 3 stores and their website to Eastern Kentucky flood relief funds organized by Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky and the Hindman Settlement School. Their website is www.carmichaelsbookstore.com. We will be back next week with the true start of Season 7 and an all new episode. Happy Reading! You can find Bobi Conn on social media @BobiConn and her website bobiconn.com. You can find Kendra Winchester @readappalachia and @Kdwinchester You can find shownotes for any episode at our website www.perksofbeingabooklover.com. We are also on Instagram @perksofbeingabookloverpod and on FB Perks of Being a BookLover Books Mentioned in this Episode: 1- A Woman in Time by Bobi Conn 2- In the Shadow of the Valley by Bobi Conn 3- Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff 4- Embers on the Wind by Lisa Williamson Rosenberg 5- Finna by Nino Cipri 6- Defekt by Nino Cipri 7- Percy Jackson & The Olympians by Rick Riordan 8- Sabriel by Garth Nix 9- Books by Tamora Pierce 10- Twilight by Stephanie Meyer 11- Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray 12- Rise to the Sun by Leah Johnson 13- The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw 14- The Birds of Opulence by Crystal Wilkinson 15- Affrilachia by Frank X. Walker 16- Southernmost by Silas House 17- Black Bone: 25 Years of Affrilachian Poets edited by Bianca Lynne Spriggs and Jeremy Paden 18- Water Street by Crystal Wilkinson 19- Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance 20- 3Even As We Breathe by Annette Saunooke Cladsaddle 21- Step Into the Circle: Writers in Modern Appalachia edited by Amy Greene and Trent Thomson

Hello, and welcome to *Season 3* of The Host Dispatch! What an honor it is to share the first episode of Season 3 of The Host Dispatch with you, in conversation with poet, educator, community organizer and founder of TORCH Literary Arts, Amanda Johnston. Amanda has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine. She is the author of two chapbooks, GUAP and Lock & Key, and the full-length collection Another Way to Say Enter. She has received fellowships, grants, and awards from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, Tasajillo, the Kentucky Foundation for Women, The Watermill Center, and the Austin International Poetry Festival. She is a former Board President of Cave Canem Foundation, a member of the Affrilachian Poets, cofounder of Black Poets Speak Out, and founder of Torch Literary Arts. TORCH Literary Arts is a nonprofit organization established to publish and promote creative writing by Black women based in Austin, Texas. Amanda is doing so much for Black women writers, but she also has such a beautiful vision for the future of this newly minted non-profit, including retreats, writing workshops, and more! So keep an eye out for more great things coming soon from TORCH by visiting their website, torchliteraryarts.org, following them on socials @TORCHliteraryarts and if you want to support, please consider joining us in making a donation!

When was the last time an artist took you by the hand and said, “Here, let me show you how the world looks through my eyes”? Frank X. Walker is Kentucky's former poet laureate and one of the co-founders of the Affrilachian Poets - a grassroots group of poets of color living in the Appalachian region. Thirty years after their founding, the Affrilachian Poets continue to dismantle the idea that Appalachia is a white region, devoid of literature and the arts. For decades, Frank's work has embodied a deeply personal approach and challenged us to see poetry as an urgent voice that can touch on our experience of living in a way other written works can't. Today, Frank is the Director of the MFA program of the University of Kentucky and he's mentored hundreds of artists along their path. He's the author and editor of a dozen books of poetry and, as you'll hear, Frank is a lovely, thoughtful, and really cool guy. You can find Frank here: http://frankxwalker.com/index.html Check out his books here: http://frankxwalker.com/books.html Spotify playlist for this episode: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0djkPzw8PWwpv9qaixNZkX Tell Me Something True is a 100% independent podcast. There are no corporations or advertisers backing this community. We are 100% funded by the TMST community. Support TMST today so you can hear the uncut interviews, attend private events with Laura and help keep TMST ad-free: https://tmst.supercast.com/

We have a fondness for Appalachia and have had several guests on the Perks who hail from that area, including Alix Harrow, Ashley Blooms, and Annette Sanuooke Clapsaddle. But Appalachia is much larger than just the small slice that Amy and I often think of. Appalachia is really a huge area that encompasses a vast and diverse array of people. Today we talk to Kendra Winchester, the co-founder and executive director of the 'Reading Women' podcast and a Book Riot contributing editor. But she is also the person behind the Read Appalachia Instagram account. She tells us what makes Appalachian literature special and why it's so important to her. You can find Kendra Winchester on various instagram pages including at @readappalachia, @thebookcorgiand @thereadingwomen. Books Mentioned in this episode: 1- Moby Dick by Herman Melville 2- Percy Jackson & The Olympians by Rick Riordan 3- Sabriel by Garth Nix 4- Books by Tamora Pierce 5- Twilight by Stephanie Meyer 6- Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray 7- Rise to the Sun by Leah Johnson 8- The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw 9- The Birds of Opulence by Crystal Wilkinson 10- Affrilachia by Frank X. Walker 11- Southernmost by Silas House 12- Black Bone: 25 Years of Affrilachian Poets edited by Bianca Lynne Spriggs and Jeremy Paden 13- Water Street by Crystal Wilkinson 14- Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance 15- What You're Getting Wrong about Appalachia by Elizabeth Catte 16- Step Into the Circle: Writers in Modern Appalachia edited by Amy Greene and Trent Thomson 17- Even As We Breathe by Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle 18- Me and Banksy by Tanya Lloyd Kyi 19- Carework: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha 20- Disability/Visability: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century edited by Alice Wong 21- The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in Death, Decay & Disaster by Sarah Krasnostein 22- The Believer: Encounters with Love, Death & Faith by Sarah Krasnostein Podcasts mentioned-- 1- Reading Women Instagram mentioned-- 1- @readappalachia 2- @thebookcorgi TV shows mentioned 1- Explained (Netflix) You can find us at: www.perksofbeingabooklover.com Insta - @perksofbeingabookloverpod FB - The Perks of Being a Book Lover

We have a fondness for Appalachia and have had several guests on the Perks who hail from that area, including Alix Harrow, Ashley Blooms, and Annette Sanuooke Clapsaddle. But Appalachia is much larger than just the small slice that Amy and I often think of. Appalachia is really a huge area that encompasses a vast and diverse array of people. Today we talk to Kendra Winchester, the co-founder and executive director of the 'Reading Women' podcast and a Book Riot contributing editor. But she is also the person behind the Read Appalachia Instagram account. She tells us what makes Appalachian literature special and why it's so important to her. You can find Kendra Winchester on various instagram pages including at @readappalachia, @thebookcorgi and @thereadingwomen. Books Mentioned in this episode: 1- Moby Dick by Herman Melville 2- Percy Jackson & The Olympians by Rick Riordan 3- Sabriel by Garth Nix 4- Books by Tamora Pierce 5- Twilight by Stephanie Meyer 6- Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray 7- Rise to the Sun by Leah Johnson 8- The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw 9- The Birds of Opulence by Crystal Wilkinson 10- Affrilachia by Frank X. Walker 11- Southernmost by Silas House 12- Black Bone: 25 Years of Affrilachian Poets edited by Bianca Lynne Spriggs and Jeremy Paden 13- Water Street by Crystal Wilkinson 14- Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance 15- What You're Getting Wrong about Appalachia by Elizabeth Catte 16- Step Into the Circle: Writers in Modern Appalachia edited by Amy Greene and Trent Thomson 17- Even As We Breathe by Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle 18- Me and Banksy by Tanya Lloyd Kyi 19- Carework: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha 20- Disability/Visability: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century edited by Alice Wong 21- The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in Death, Decay & Disaster by Sarah Krasnostein 22- The Believer: Encounters with Love, Death & Faith by Sarah Krasnostein Podcasts mentioned-- 1- Reading Women Instagram mentioned-- 1- @readappalachia 2- @thebookcorgi TV shows mentioned 1- Explained (Netflix) You can find us at: www.perksofbeingabooklover.com Insta - @perksofbeingabookloverpod FB - The Perks of Being a Book Lover

For the third episode Karrington met with Frank X Walker, a professor here at the University of Kentucky, to talk about poetry, politics, the Affrilachian Poets, and black comics.    Follow us at @krnl_lf and @krnl.talks:  https://www.instagram.com/krnl_lf/?hl=en https://www.instagram.com/krnltalks/?hl=en

Jenny and Kendra catch up on books they've read and liked recently. Kendra also shares how the Reading Women Podcast has changed in the last two years, what her Read Appalachia project is all about, and how she organizes her books (it's unusual!)Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 218: Reading Gaps Subscribe to the podcast via this link: FeedburnerOr subscribe via Apple Podcasts by clicking: SubscribeOr listen through TuneIn Or listen on Google Play Or listen via StitcherOr listen through Spotify Or listen through Google Podcasts Books discussed:  Same Sun Here by Silas House and Neela VaswaniGilgamesh by Joan LondonF*ckface: And Other Stories by Leah HamptonWe Trade Our Night for Someone Else's Day by Ivana Bodrozic, translated by Ellen Elias-BursacEven as we Breathe by Annette Saunooke ClapsaddleOther mentions:Read AppalachiaThe Prettiest Star by Carter SickelsSouthernmost by Silas House "Dear America" booksThe Stella PrizeTracker by Alexis Wright (link goes to Google since Bookshop didn't have it yet)All the Birds, Singing by Evie WyldThe Bass Rock by Evie Wyld"Lost in a (Mis)Gendered Appalachia" by Leah Hampton, in GuernicaThe Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanet KhanThe Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha PhilyawNational Gingerbread House Competition at the Omni Grove Park InnUniversity of Kentucky - Fireside IndustriesCrystal Wilkinson, Kentucky Poet LaureateRandall KenanThe International Booker PrizeThe Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, translated by Michele HutchisonBlack Bone: 25 Years of the Affrilachian Poets edited by Bianca Lynne Spriggs et alAn Inventory of Losses by Judith Schalansky, translated by Jackie SmithRelated episodes:Episode 102 - The Reading Women Reading Envy Crossover Episode Episode 195 - Muchness with NadineEpisode 199 - Awkward Melancholy with KarenEpisode 212 - Subtly Fascinating with VinnyEpisode 213 - Funicular Reads with BiancaStalk us online: Reading Women Podcast Kendra on Instagram,  Twitter, Goodreads, and YouTubeJenny at GoodreadsJenny on TwitterJenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy All links to books are through Bookshop.org, where I am an affiliate. I wanted more money to go to the actual publishers and authors. I link to Amazon when a book is not listed with Bookshop.

April is National Poetry Month, and Kentucky Humanities is celebrating with a poem a day from Kentucky’s most celebrated poets, including Frank X Walker. Walker is the former Kentucky Poet Laureate and is a Professor of English at the University of Kentucky. He is a co-founder of the Affrilachian Poets and coined the term "Affrilachia."

On April 23, 2019, the Lannan Center presented a reading and talk featuring poet Nikky Finney. Introduced by Aminatta Forna. Nikky Finney is the author of the poetry collections Head Off & Split (TriQuarterly Books, 2011), winner of the 2011 National Book Award; The World Is Round (InnerLight Publishing, 2003); Rice (Sister Vision, 1995); and On Wings Made of Gauze (W. Morrow, 1985). She has been a faculty member at Cave Canem, a founding member of the Affrilachian Poets, and professor for twenty-three years at the University of Kentucky. Music: Quantum Jazz — "Orbiting A Distant Planet" — Provided by Jamendo.

Amanda Johnston earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine. She is the author of two chapbooks, GUAP and Lock & Key, and the full-length collection Another Way to Say Enter (Argus House Press). Her poetry and interviews have appeared in numerous online and print publications, among them, Callaloo, Poetry, Kinfolks Quarterly, Puerto del Sol, Muzzle, Pluck!, No, Dear and the anthologies, Small Batch, Full, di-ver-city, The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South, and Women of Resistance: Poems for a New Feminism. The recipient of multiple Artist Enrichment grants from the Kentucky Foundation for Women and the Christina Sergeyevna Award from the Austin International Poetry Festival, she is a member of the Affrilachian Poets and a Cave Canem graduate fellow. Johnston is a Stonecoast MFA faculty member, a cofounder of Black Poets Speak Out, and founding executive director of Torch Literary Arts. She serves on the Cave Canem Foundation board of directors and currently lives in Texas. Web: amandajohnston.com / Twitter: amejohnston / Instagram: poetamandajohnston

Welcome to our podcast preview of the annual Boskone book festival. First up is author Clea Simon—a newcomer to the Boskone family. She and I talk about the Boston music scene, which is the setting for her book “World Enough,” our favorite clubs, and how the it's changed over the years. She shares the story behind her new mystery novels, most of which have animals as the main characters. Fellow writer Gerald Coleman's resume is far too long to list, but we cover a lot of ground in this interview, talking about how theology and science fiction come together, his work with the Affrilachian Poets and the diversity we see (and don't see) in comics and science fiction. In addition, I've got some new music for you, with singles from Marco Bonvicini and Klgor.

The Appalachian region consists of an area from Southern New York down through Mississippi. It is often characterized solely by poor, white Southerners from the mountains. However, that is most certainly not the case and to shine a light on this a poets collective was formed at the University of Kentucky. This collective works to make the invisible visible. Affrilachian Poets is the name of that collective and guest Joy Priest is a member.  On this episode Priest talks about the history of the Affrilachian Poets, when she became involved with the group and about her work as a poet. Priest also addresses the importance of having a collective like the Affrilachian Poets in the American South. She gives insights into her experience as a woman of color with ancestral origins in Alabama, her childhood in Louisville, Kentucky, living outside of the American South and now residing in South Carolina.    This week’s Listen Here isn’t a promo, but rather a podcast mentioned by Priest. It is Gimlet Media’s Uncivil.    The Who’s that lady (from history)? is Queen Amina of Zazzau.    Resources:   – Affrilachain Poets – Twitter: @Dalai_Mama_ @Affrilachia

Artist, advocate, and entrepreneur Crystal Good uses poetry and performance to explore the landscape of Appalachia as a lens into the universe. She is a member of the Affrilachian Poets, an Irene McKinney scholar, and performs with Heroes Are Gang Leaders, a New York-based Free/Avant-Garde experimental improvisation ensemble. She is the author of “Valley Girl” and is working on her second collection of poetry.

We're celebrating National Poetry Month here at WMMT by bringing you a 2012 interview with Nikky Finney from Profiles, a show out of Bloomington Indiana’s WFIU station, where they interview notable artists, scholars and musicians. Nikky Finney is a powerful poet, born in South Carolina, who taught at the University of Kentucky for twenty years. She’s a founding member of the Affrilachian Poets and her Book "Head Off & Split" won the National Book Award in 2011.

Boyer, GLCA Fiction Prize Winner, has received writing grants and fellowships from the Wisconsin Arts Board and the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. He has taught at the University of New Hampshire and Northeastern University, and has taught the Journal Writing Seminar at Montserrat’s summer program in Viterbo, Italy, since 1998. His chapbook of poetry, “The Mockingbird Puzzle,” is published by Finishing Line Press. “History’s Child,” his first novel, tells the coming-of-age story of a Polish boy born in a village in eastern Poland in 1931, whose childhood is torn apart, first by the Soviet invasion from the east, then by the German invasion from the west, and ultimately by repressive grip of Stalin that sends him to the gulag and subsumes his homeland into the Soviet republic of Belarus. Horton, GLCA Nonfiction Prize Winner, is the recipient of the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Award, the Bea Gonzalez Poetry Award and a National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship in Literature. His previous work includes the poetry collection “Pitch Dark Anarchy.” Horton serves on the Board of Directors for Pen America’s Pen Prison Writing Program and teaches at the University of New Haven. He is a Cave Canem Fellow, and a member of both the Affrilachian Poets and the experimental performance group Heroes are Gang Leaders. Horton is also a senior editor at Willow Books, an independent literary press he helped found in 2006. Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, he now resides in Harlem, New York. His GLCA award winning book, “Hook: A Memoir,” explores his downward spiral from unassuming Howard University undergraduate to homeless drug addict, international cocaine smuggler, and incarcerated felon. Hook explores race and social construction in America, the forgotten lives within the prison industrial complex, and the resilience of the human spirit.

GUY DAVIS and FABRIZIO POGGI pay homage to the legendary blues duo Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee on their latest release �Sonny & Brownie�s Last Train� on MC Records. The deep, acoustic blues sessions for the album took place in Milan Italy and were recorded live in the studio. The result captured the special musical connection that “The Ambassador of the Blues" and this award winning international harmonica sensation possess from the years of playing and recording together. THE AFFRILACHIAN POETS have been writing together, defying the persistent stereotype of a racially homogenized rural region of Appalachia since 1991. The term "Affrilachia" was originally coined by Frank X Walker who was named the youngest Poet Laureate of Kentucky in 2013. Through their writing and the very existence of their enclave, the Affrilachian Poets continue to reveal relationships that link identity to familial roots, socio-economic stratification and cultural influence, and an inherent connection to the land. An all-star team of poets lead by Frank X and Bianca Spriggs will read and discuss their poetry, the 25th Anniversary of the group and the release of the �Black Bone Anthology�. Reknown Louisville jazz pianist Harry Pickens will appear as a special guest to back the poets� readings. WoodSongs Kid: Zakia Holland-Tucker is lives in Richmond, Kentucky and attends Madison Central High School. She is one of newest members of the Affrilachian Poets.

Randall Horton is the author of The Definition of Place (2006) and Lingua Franca of Ninth Street (2009), both from Main Street Rag. His poetry prizes include the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Award and the Bea González Prize for Poetry. He has an MFA from Chicago State University and a PhD from SUNY Albany. Horton is a Cave Canem Fellow, a member of the Affrilachian Poets, and associate professor of English at the University of New Haven. He also serves as senior editor for Willow Books and editor-in-chief for Tidal Basin Review.

Crystal Wilkinson is a well known Kentucky author, owner of Wild Fig Books & Coffee in Lexington KY, and a founding member of the Affrilachian Poets. In this edition of Mountain Talk Monday, host Kelli Haywood with the help of WMMT’s Mimi Pickering interviews Crystal on the eve of her upcoming book release, The Birds of Opulence. Kelli and Crystal delve deep into what it means to be Appalachian and to write about Appalachia for the contemporary audience. Crystal tells the story of Frank X. Walker’s coining of the term “Affrilachian” and how it has grown from representing a very specific group of people to being the identifying term for those contributing to the world stage in a wide variety of ways. Crystal also reads from her newest book which will be released in early March. Find Crystal where she is the Appalachian Writer in Residence at Berea College, or at Wild Fig Books & Coffee in person or on the web. Come to Seedtime on the Cumberland Festival here on the WMMT/Appalshop grounds in June of this year to visit the Wild Fig Pop-Up Bookstore display!

Distinguished Writers Series: Nikky Finney and Tom Sleigh Tuesday, April 10, 2012, 4:30PM Newhouse Center for the Humanities, Wellesley College Nikky Finney was born in South Carolina, within listening distance of the sea. A child of activists, she came of age during the civil rights and Black Arts Movements. At Talladega College, nurtured by Hale Woodruff's Amistad murals, Finney began to understand the powerful synergy between art and history. Finney has authored four books of poetry: Head Off & Split (2011); The World Is Round (2003); Rice (1995); and On Wings Made of Gauze (1985). Professor of English and creative writing at the University of Kentucky, Finney also authored Heartwood (1997) edited The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South (2007), and co-founded the Affrilachian Poets. Finney's fourth book of poetry, Head Off & Split was awarded the 2011 National Book Award for poetry. Tom Sleigh's books include After One, winner of the Houghton Mifflin New Poetry Prize; Waking, a finalist for the Lamont Poetry Prize and the William Carlos Williams Award; The Chain, finalist for Lenore Marshall Prize; The Dreamhouse, finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award; Far Side of the Earth, an Honor Book Award from the Massachusetts Society for the Book; Bula Matari/Smasher of Rocks; a translation of Euripides' Herakles; a book of essays, Interview With a Ghost; and Space Walk, winner of the $100,000 2008 Kingsley Tufts Award. He has also received the Shelley Prize from the Poetry Society of America, the John Updike Award and an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, an Individual Writer's Award from the Lila Wallace Fund, and grants from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. He publishes in the New Yorker, American Poetry Review, Atlantic Monthly, Poetry, and elsewhere, as well as The Best American Poetry and The Best American Travel Writing anthologies His new book, Army Cats, was published this spring from Graywolf Press. This fall he was the Anna Maria Kellen Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin. He teaches in the MFA Program at Hunter College and lives in Brooklyn.

There is no better description of poet Makalani Bandele‘s debut book Hellfightin’ (Willow Books, 2012) than the one found on his comprehensive website: “Derived from the nickname the French Army gave the all-Black 369th Infantry Regiment in World War I, the Hellfighters . . . is a tour de force of lyricism, mysticism, jive philosophy, and discursive narrative as blues lick. The title of the book, Hellfightin‘, as a term is best understood in the context of the critical framework of the Blues …” Bandele’s Hellfightin‘, then, is a poetic education in the African American musical, cultural and historical traditions, and one of the latest installments from the famous creative ensemble known as the Affrilachian Poets. Bandele couldn’t be among better company than those poets who seek to bring attention to the black literary tradition within the Appalachian territories. Hellfightin‘ does all that and more. Listen to how Bandele tells us how. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is no better description of poet Makalani Bandele‘s debut book Hellfightin’ (Willow Books, 2012) than the one found on his comprehensive website: “Derived from the nickname the French Army gave the all-Black 369th Infantry Regiment in World War I, the Hellfighters . . . is a tour de force of lyricism, mysticism, jive philosophy, and discursive narrative as blues lick. The title of the book, Hellfightin‘, as a term is best understood in the context of the critical framework of the Blues …” Bandele’s Hellfightin‘, then, is a poetic education in the African American musical, cultural and historical traditions, and one of the latest installments from the famous creative ensemble known as the Affrilachian Poets. Bandele couldn’t be among better company than those poets who seek to bring attention to the black literary tradition within the Appalachian territories. Hellfightin‘ does all that and more. Listen to how Bandele tells us how. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices