Affrilachian poetry will be the subject of a presentation by Bianca Spriggs at the February “Evenings Upstairs at the Library” on February 27 at 7 p.m. at the McCracken County Public Library. Spriggs, a research assistant at the University of Kentucky is a creative writing facilitator as well as an Affrilachian poet and Cave Canem Fellow.
“Affrilachian” is a term created by Frank X. Walker which refers to the poetry and writings that are born in the area of the Appalachian mountain range. It is a term that embraces many cultures and which provides a platform for any who have lived in the thirteen state regions surrounding the mountains. Since 1991, the Affrilachian Poets have written about their roots in the area; their economic struggles, and their ties to the land.
The writings are similar to the ones in the Black Arts Movement and the Harlem Renaissance where the authors discuss their links to the area where they live and work. Spriggs will explore the Kentucky writers who are a part of this movement in her presentation, “Redefining the Region: Pushing Poetry Through Cultural Space.”
Spriggs is a graduate of Transylvania University and the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. She was chosen one of the top 30 Performance Poets by The Root and won the 2013 Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowship in Poetry. Spriggs is the recipient of several Artist Enrichment and Arts Meets Activism grants from the Kentucky Foundation for Women and is a Pushcart Prize nominee. She also created The Swallow Tale Project which teaches creative writing to women who are incarcerated. She is the author of Kaffir Lily, How Swallowtails Become Dragons and has also been published in several anthologies.
This program is co-sponsored by the Kentucky Humanities Council and the Friends of the McCracken County Public Library. For more information, go to the library web site at www.mclib.net or call Bobbie Wrinkle at 270-442-2510 ext. 119.