| Crystal E. Wilkinson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1962 Hamilton, Ohio |
| Occupation | Author |
Crystal E. Wilkinson (born 1962) is an African-American writer from Kentucky and founding member of the Affrilachian Poets, a writing collective based in Lexington, Kentucky.[1]
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Born in Hamilton, Ohio in 1962, Crystal Wilkinson was brought to her grandparents' farm in Indian Creek, Kentucky (about three miles east of Middleburg, Kentucky) when she was only six weeks old. The only Black family in the area and like many farmers in Appalachia, Silas Wilkinson grew cash crops of tobacco and corn and produced sorghum molasses; and, given the few jobs available for African-American women in eastern Kentucky, Christine Wilkinson cleaned and cooked in the homes of the local schoolteachers of Casey County. Wilkinson wrote that she "lived an enchanted childhood" and that her grandparents "gave me the freedom to explore the countryside and to write, to dream, to discover."[2] She wrote about her childhood and her upbringing in her award-winning book, Blackberries, Blackberries:
Wilkinson attended Eastern Kentucky University in nearby Richmond, Kentucky and graduated with a B.A. in journalism in 1985. In 2003 she earned her Masters in Fine Arts degree (in creative writing) from Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky.
From 1989-1995, Wilkinson served as a public information officer and community relations manager for the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, editing their quarterly environmental newsletter and handling media relations for special projects. She also began volunteering her time to public service in Lexington, most notably the Roots and Heritage Festival, helping with publicity and coordinating the literary readings.
During this time, Wilkinson would gather with other Kentucky African American writers (including Kelly Norman Ellis, Ricardo Nazario y Colon, Mitchell L. H. Douglas and Daundra Scisney-Givens) at the Martin Luther King Jr. Cultural Center at the University of Kentucky where Frank X Walker was the assistant director. Inspired by the great poet Nikki Finney who was teaching creative writing at UK, they gathered to talk about their experiences and to celebrate the rural traditions of African Americans in Appalachia.[4] In 2000, the same year that Wilkinson published her first volume, the short story collection Blackberries, Blackberries (The Toby Press, 2000), Frank X. Walker also published his first poetry collection, Affrilachia: Poems (Old Cove Press),[5] thus formally promulgating the word that the group had coined for themselves, the Affrilachian Poets. The next year the writers celebrated their 10th year as a collective with a documentary produced by the Covington, Kentucky-based Media Working Group: "Coal Black Voices: The History of the Affrilachian Poets." With Walker serving as a consulting producer, producer/directors Fred Johnson and Jean Donohue captured the Affrilachian Poets in interviews that included not only their political but also their poet voices. “Voices” was broadcasted on Kentucky Educational Television (see more at www.ket.org/muse/coalblack and video clips are available online at coalblackvoices.com/documentary/video.html.
In 1997 Wilkinson was hired as the Assistant Director for the [www.carnegieliteracy.org Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning] in Lexington, Kentucky where she taught short courses and implemented many different programs and activities for Kentucky's literary arts scene. From 1997-2001 and again in 2008 she taught high school juniors and seniors who were juried into the creative writing discipline for the Kentucky Governor's School for the Arts. She also served as chair of the creative writing department from 1997-2001. In the spring of 2004, she served as the Writer-in-Residence for the Appalachian College Association, conducting advanced creative writing classes and one-on-one instruction for undergraduate writing students at Cumberland College, Lindsey Wilson College and Berea College. She has taught creative writing at Eastern Kentucky University (2002–2003), the University of Kentucky and Indiana University-Bloomington (2004–2007).
Currently she is the Writer-in-Residence teaching writing and literature at Morehead State University and heads the BFA in Creative Writing Program there. She offers private consultations for aspiring writers.
She and her partner artist, Ronald Davis, are founders and editors of Mythium: A Journal of Contemporary Literature, celebrating writers of color and the cultural voice.
Wilkinson has presented many workshops and given readings in the U.S., including
Wilkinson is featured in several television shows:
Wilkinson is the recipient of many awards and fellowships, including the Sallie Bingham Award from the Kentucky Foundation for Women for the promotion of activism and feminist artist expression. In 2006 Wilkinson was the Guest Fiction Editor and featured writer for Nantahala Review. Her short fiction piece "Holler" published in Slice Literary Magazine (Spring/Summer 2010) is nominated for the 2010 Pushcart Prize.
Associated Writing Programs (2003–present)
See more about Wilkinson at the website for Mythium Literary Journal where she is working to spotlight diverse writers of poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction. As the featured author, she is interviewed in Appalchian Heritage 34 (2), spring 2006; and featured in Frank X. Walker's documentary, "Coal Black Voices: The History of the Affrilachian Poets."