[1] Walker was born in Chicago and, with his five siblings, was raised in the white supremacist doomsday cult the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) by his parents, who were both blind.
At 16, after leaving the WCG, Walker dropped out of school and started becoming a heavy user of alcohol, marijuana and cocaine.
His first book, Street Shadows: A Memoir of Race, Rebellion and Redemption, was awarded the L.L.
[12] Prior to joining Emerson College, Walker was an associate professor of American Literature at Bridgewater State University.
[13] In addition to teaching at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA,[14] he has been the Ida Bean Distinguished Visiting Writer in the Nonfiction Program at the University of Iowa[15] and the Visiting Hurst Professor at Washington University.