Silas House

American writer

Silas Dwane House (born August 7, 1971) is an American writer best known for his novels. He was born and grew up in the southeastern part of the state of Kentucky. Most of his books are about people who live in the American South away from big cities. He writes about people who are in the working class. They are people who live close to the natural world in their small town homes. Some of his older characters live in the old ways, while younger characters behave in more modern ways.[2]

Silas House
House at the 2022 Texas Book Festival.
House at the 2022 Texas Book Festival.
BornSilas Dwane House
(1971-08-07) August 7, 1971 (age 52)[1]
Lily, Laurel County, Kentucky
Occupation
NationalityAmerican
Period2001–present
GenreSouthern literature
Website
www.silas-house.com

House is a very public person in the LGBTQ community in Kentucky.[3] In 2022 he won the Duggins Prize for LGBTQ+ writers.[4] When he won that award he said, "I hope that I have made another LGBTQ person—especially those living in rural places—feel seen and heard the way previous winners of this prize…made me feel seen and heard as a young gay man living in a rural place.”[3]

Since 2017 House has been a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. His books have gotten many honors, such as an EB White Award, the Appalachian Book of the Year, the Storylines Prize from the New York Public Library/NAV Foundation, the Lee Smith Award, a finalist for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and many others.[5]

In 2023, House was named the Poet Laureate of Kentucky.[6]

Books change

  • 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 (play)
  • 2009 Eli the Good (novel)
  • 2012 This Is My Heart For You (play)
  • 2012 Same Sun Here (novel, co-authored with Neela Vaswani)
  • 2018 Southernmost (novel)
  • 2022 Lark Ascending (novel)

References change

  1. House, Silas Dwane. "Kentucky Birth Index (1911-1999)". Retrieved 18 February 2017.[permanent dead link]
  2. "KYLIT - A site devoted to Kentucky Writers". web.archive.org. 2007-06-22. Archived from the original on 2007-06-22. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Kentucky, Queer (2022-07-22). "Silas House awarded Duggins Prize for LGBTQ+ writers during Pride Month". queerkentucky.com. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
  4. Tran, Mai (2022-06-10). "4 Questions with Duggins Prize Winner Silas House". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
  5. "About". SILAS HOUSE. Archived from the original on 2023-01-04. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
  6. Silas House, KY Poet Laureate 2023-24 Induction Remarks., retrieved 2023-04-25