<p><em style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">"How does being a Kentuckian inform your writing?"</em></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">That's the first question Kentucky Poet Laureate Crystal Wilkinson asks </span><em style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">former</em><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;"> Poet Laureate Frank X Walker, and he counters with, "how does it not?"</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">His grandparents were farmers, but Walker describes growing up feeling removed from the land itself. "I was raised in a housing project," he says, "but we coveted other people's land, and we got a kind of way about us when we had a chance to be outdoors and in the wild, or on a farm, like my grandparents' space."</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">Walker says every word he writes deals with family, place and identity. "I don't know how to take that out."</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">This is the inaugural episode of "</span><a href="http://wordsforthepeople.org" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent;">Words for the People</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">," a new monthly podcast created by Crystal Wilkinson. Each episode will feature an established writer and an emerging writer, both Kentuckians, sharing wisdom with each other, and with you.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">Wilkinson conceived of the show to elevate Kentucky writers, and give a platform to aspiring writers throughout the commonwealth. Every month, she'll give a writing prompt to inspire you to create your own work,</span> <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdEg2UheUd2wJSwIxcymPKDH-3hX88P3AnbVUcaw7UGzOvt7Q/viewform" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent;">and share it</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">"Everyone has meaningful stories inside them, but we don't always know how to set them loose into the world," she says.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">This month's writing prompt is: "Where I'm from." Visit </span><a href="wordsforthepeople.org" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">wordsforthepeople.org</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;"> for details and how to share your own story.</span></p>