Silas House (born 1971) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer best known for his
novelA novel is a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s. He is also a
music journalistMusic journalism is criticism and reportage about music. It began in the eighteenth century as comment on what is now thought of as 'classical music'. This aspect of music journalism, today generally classified as music criticism, comprises the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of...
,
environmental activistEnvironmentalism is a broad philosophy and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the state of the environment...
and
columnistA columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating copy that can sometimes be strongly opinionated. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs on the Internet....
. House's fiction is known for its attention to the natural world, working class characters, and the plight of the rural place and rural people.
House was born and grew up in rural Lily,
Laurel CountyLaurel County is a county in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The population was 52,715 at the 2000 census. Its county seat is London.The London Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Laurel County....
,
KentuckyThe Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. Kentucky is a Southern state situated in the Upland South, although the state is infrequently placed, geographically and culturally, in the Midwest. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a...
, but he also spent much of his childhood in nearby Leslie County, Kentucky, which he has cited as the basis for the fictional Crow County, which serves as the setting for his first three novels.
Silas House (born 1971) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer best known for his
novelA novel is a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s. He is also a
music journalistMusic journalism is criticism and reportage about music. It began in the eighteenth century as comment on what is now thought of as 'classical music'. This aspect of music journalism, today generally classified as music criticism, comprises the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of...
,
environmental activistEnvironmentalism is a broad philosophy and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the state of the environment...
and
columnistA columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating copy that can sometimes be strongly opinionated. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs on the Internet....
. House's fiction is known for its attention to the natural world, working class characters, and the plight of the rural place and rural people.
Early life and education
House was born and grew up in rural Lily,
Laurel CountyLaurel County is a county in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The population was 52,715 at the 2000 census. Its county seat is London.The London Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Laurel County....
,
KentuckyThe Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. Kentucky is a Southern state situated in the Upland South, although the state is infrequently placed, geographically and culturally, in the Midwest. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a...
, but he also spent much of his childhood in nearby Leslie County, Kentucky, which he has cited as the basis for the fictional Crow County, which serves as the setting for his first three novels. He has degrees from
Sue Bennett CollegeSue Bennett College was a private college in London, Kentucky which operated from 1897 through 1997. It was affiliated with the United Methodist Church...
(Associate's),
Eastern Kentucky UniversityEastern Kentucky University, commonly referred to as Eastern or by the acronym EKU by local residents, is an undergraduate and graduate teaching and research institution located in Richmond, Kentucky, U.S.A....
(BA in English with emphasis on American literature), and from
Spalding UniversitySpalding University is a private, non-profit, fully accredited, doctoral level university in Louisville, Kentucky. The school is a co-educational, independent, fully accredited doctoral level institution open to all qualified students regardless of race, religion, color, age, gender, sexual...
(Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing). In 2000, House was chosen, along with since-published authors Pamela Duncan, Jeanne Braselton and Jack Riggs, as one of the ten emerging talents in the south by the Millennial Gathering of Writers at
Vanderbilt UniversityVanderbilt University is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the South...
.
Writing
House's first novel,
Clay's Quilt, was published in 2001. It appeared briefly on the
New York Times Best Seller listThe New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered to be the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. It is published weekly in the The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is usually found inserted in the Sunday edition of The New York Times, or as a stand-alone...
and became a word-of-mouth success throughout the
Southern United StatesThe Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, Down South, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States...
. It was a finalist for both the Southeast Booksellers' Association fiction award and the Appalachian Writers' Association Book of the Year Award. He followed with
A Parchment of Leaves (2003), which became a national bestseller and was nominated for several major awards. The book was a finalist for the Southern Book Critics' Circle Prize and won the Award for Special Achievement from the Fellowship of Southern Writers, the Chaffin Award for Literature, the Kentucky Novel of the Year Award and many others.
House's next book,
The Coal Tattoo (2004), was a finalist for the Southern Book Critics' Circle Prize as well as winning the Appalachian Writers' Association Book of the Year Award, the Kentucky Novel of the Year Award, and others. House's work has been championed by such acclaimed writers as
Lee SmithLee Smith is an American fiction author who typically incorporates much of her home roots in the Southeastern United States in her works of literature. She has received many writing awards, such as the O. Henry award and the Academy Award For Literature...
and
Larry BrownLarry Brown was an American writer who was born and lived in Oxford, Mississippi. Brown wrote fiction and nonfiction. He graduated from high school in Oxford but did not go to college. Many years later, he took a creative writing class from the Mississippi novelist Ellen Douglas. Brown served in...
, who were both mentors for House.
House's writing has appeared in
Oxford AmericanThe Oxford American is an American quarterly literary magazine that features writing and art from Southerners or about the South. The magazine has ceased publication several times but is currently published.-First publication:...
,
NewsdayNewsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...
,
Bayou,
The Louisville Review,
Night Train,
Appalachian Heritage,
Wind and other publications. His work has been nominated for two
Pushcart PrizeThe Pushcart Prize is a prestigious American literary prize by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are invited to nominate up to 6 works they have featured...
s and anthologized in such books as
New Stories From the South: The Year's Best, 2004. He has also written the introductions to
Missing Mountains, a study of mountaintop removal;
From Walton's Mountain to Tomorrow, a biography of Earl Hamner, Jr., and
Gregory of Nyssa's Life of Moses, a new edition by HarperCollins.
Music writing
House is also a music journalist and a contributing editor to
No Depression magazine, for which he has written features on
Lucinda WilliamsLucinda Williams is an American rock, folk, and country music singer and songwriter. She recorded her first albums in 1978 and 1980 in a traditional country and blues style and received very little attention from radio, the media, or the public. In 1988, she released her self-titled album,...
,
Delbert McClintonDelbert McClinton is a Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter and musician. Active as a side-man since at least 1962 and as a band leader since 1972, he has recorded several major-label albums, and has charted singles on the Billboard Hot 100, Mainstream Rock Tracks, and Hot Country Songs charts...
and many others. House is also an in-demand press kit writer for Nashville's music business, having written biographies for such artists as
Kris KristoffersonKristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson is an American writer, singer-songwriter, actor, and musician. He is best known for hits such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night"...
, Buddy Miller, Del McCoury and Leann Womack. In 2001 and 2002, he was a regular contributor to
NPR'sNational Public Radio is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to 797 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, signed into law...
All Things ConsideredAll Things Considered is National Public Radio's flagship news program. It was the first news program on the network, and is broadcast live worldwide through several outlets...
. In 2005, House wrote the play
The Hurting Part, which was produced by the
University of KentuckyThe University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public, co-educational, university, and is also the state's land-grant university, located in Lexington, Kentucky...
.
Activism
Lately, House has become increasingly visible in the fight against mountaintop removal mining, an environmentally devastating form of
coal miningCoal mining is the extraction or removal of coal from the earth by mining. When coal is used for fuel in power generation it is referred to as steaming or thermal coal. Coal that is used to create coke for steel manufacturing is referred to as coking or metallurgical coal...
that blasts the entire top off a mountain and fills the valley below with the debris. House wrote the original draft of the 2005 Kentucky authors' statement against the practice; since the draft more than three dozen authors have signed it. House has published many articles about mountaintop removal as well as performing at various concerts as a member of Public Outcry, an acoustic band formed for the purpose of raising awareness of mountaintop removal mining. The other members of the group are authors
George Ella LyonGeorge Ella Lyon is a Kentucky author who has published in many genres, including picture books, poetry, juvenile novels, and articles.-Biography:...
and Anne Shelby, with musicians Jason Howard, Jessie Lynne Keltner and Kate Larken. Public Outcry tours college campuses to educate students about mountaintop removal. House and Howard also perform together as The Doolittles.
House has been joined in this fight by other important Kentucky writers such as those who are members of Public Outcry as well as
Wendell BerryWendell Berry is an American man of letters, academic, cultural and economic critic, and farmer. He is a prolific author of novels, short stories, poems, and essays...
,
Bobbie Ann MasonBobbie Ann Mason is an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and literary critic.Mason grew up on her father's dairy farm outside of Mayfield, Kentucky. As a child she loved to read, so her parents always made sure she had books. These books were mostly popular fiction about the...
and
Maurice ManningMaurice Manning is an American poet. His first collection of poems, Lawrence Booth's Book of Visions was awarded the Yale Younger Poets Award, chosen by W.S. Merwin....
.
In progress
House's fourth novel,
Eli the Good, was published by Candlewick Press September 2009. He has also recently finished editing the posthumous manuscript of poet and novelist
James StillJames Still was an Appalachian poet, novelist and folklorist. He lived most of his life in a log house along the Dead Mare Branch of Little Carr Creek, Knott County, Kentucky...
, one of House's literary idols. House is currently at work on his fifth novel and a play. He recently co-wrote a
screenplayA screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. A play for television is known as a teleplay.- Format and style :...
for actress
Ashley JuddAshley Judd is an American actress, well known for playing a number of strong women characters in films such as Ruby in Paradise, Kiss the Girls, Double Jeopardy, and High Crimes.-Early life:...
that has not yet been produced. House is writer-in-residence at
Lincoln Memorial UniversityLincoln Memorial University is a private four-year co-educational liberal arts college located in Harrogate, Tennessee.LMU's campus borders on Cumberland Gap National Historical Park....
in
HarrogateHarrogate is a city in Claiborne County, Tennessee, United States. The community has been known as "Harrogate" since the 1800s, but did not incorporate as a city by that name until 1993....
,
TennesseeTennessee is a state located in the Southeastern United States. According to the 2008 census, it has a population of 6,214,888, an increase of nearly 9.5% since 2000. Tennessee is the 14th fastest growing state in the US and is ranked 17th by population. It is ranked 36th by total land area. In...
, where he also directs the Mountain Heritage Literary Festival. House still resides in Lily, where he lives with his wife and two daughters.
Works
- 2001 Clay's Quilt-novel
- 2003 A Parchment of Leaves-novel
- 2004 The Coal Tattoo-novel
- 2005 The Hurting Part-play
- 2008 The Hurting Part-published playscript
- 2009 Something's Rising-non-fiction, co-authored with Jason Howard
- 2009 Long Time Travelling (forthcoming play)
- 2009 Eli the Good (forthcoming novel)
External links