Silas House is one of Kentucky’s best-known literary figures: author of bestselling novels, plays and a non-fiction book; a former state poet laureate; an essayist in national newspapers and magazines; a music journalist; an editor and teacher; a social activist; a movie producer; a podcaster; and even a Grammy Award finalist.
Never one to sit still, he recently published two more books in the past few months in genres new for him: a poetry collection and a murder mystery, both of which have become national bestsellers. At age 54, he shows no sign of slowing down.
“It means a lot to be voted in by your peers,” House said in an interview. “I always have imposter syndrome about everything. Some of that, I think, is what fuels an artist. It challenges you to keep going and to be better. Despite being published for so long, I still feel like I’m trying to earn my spot.”
House loves classic murder mystery novels, so he studied the form before writing Dead Man Blues under the name S.D. House. Set along the Kentucky-Tennessee line, the novel has become a USA Today bestseller and a Barnes & Noble pick. He hopes it will be the first in a series of books.
House was even more serious about studying poetry before compiling his first collection, even though he has published occasional poems for more than a decade and was Kentucky’s poet laureate in 2023 and 2024.
“I mostly felt like an imposter as a poet for most of my writing career, because I had been trained formally as a prose writer,” he said. “And I really believe that if you’re going to call yourself something then you really have to put in the 10,000 hours to earn that. So I took a lot of poetry workshops and poetry classes. I studied with a couple poets I really respect. I immersed myself in poetry, especially during the pandemic. I devoted myself to the craft.”
The work paid off. His collection, All These Ghosts, is a finalist for the Southern Book Prize and has become a USA Today bestseller, an unusual feat for any poetry book. Still, he hedged: “I want my fellow poets to know that I still feel very much like a greenhorn as a poet. But I think any good writer is always learning.”
House was born in Corbin and grew up in the nearby Laurel County community of Lily. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Eastern Kentucky University. He was working as a rural mail carrier in 2000 when the Millennial Gathering of Writers of the New South at Vanderbilt University chose him as one of 10 emerging talents in the region. Soon afterward, he sold his first novel, Clays Quilt, which was followed two years later by A Parchment of Leaves, which became an award-winning national bestseller.
House earned an MFA in creative writing from Spalding University. After being a writer in residence at EKU and Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, he joined the faculties of Berea College and Spalding University.
Four of House’s plays have been produced. He wrote a 2009 book of creative nonfiction, Something’s Rising, with Jason Kyle Howard, his husband. He has been a prominent activist on environmental issues — especially opposition to mountaintop-removal coal mining — and LGBTQ rights.
His essays have appeared in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Time, The New York Times and other publications. He has been a commentator for NPR’s “All Things Considered” and was the executive producer of the film Hillbilly, winner of the Los Angeles Film Festival’s documentary prize and the Foreign Press Association’s media award.
In 2023 House served as writer, co-producer and creative director of Tyler Childers’ music video “In Your Love,” earning a Grammy nomination. His 2018 novel Southernmost is currently in pre-production as a feature film. He has a podcast, “Writing Lessons With Silas House,” where he interviews Kentucky writers about various aspects of the craft.
House is the member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers and the recipient of three honorary degrees. His awards include an E. B. White Award, the Storylines Prize from the New York Public Library/NAV Foundation, the Lee Smith Award and the Caritas and Hobson medals.
Barbara Kingsolver, a Hall of Fame writer from Carlisle whose novel Demon Copperhead won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, calls House “an Appalachian treasure.”
“When I claim Silas as my friend, I feel like I’m joining a huge family, not just because he’s a dear and generous friend to so many people,” she said. “He’s also a friend to our mountains, our traditions, our music, literature, culture and history.”
House said he was in seventh grade when he decided to become a writer, but “I cannot remember a time when I didn’t love to read and tell stories. I was born that way, but I also grew up around people who just had an innate sense of telling a story and really understood the importance of storytelling.”
A beloved aunt, Dorothy “Dot” Kelsey, ran a community store. “I spent a lot of time in her store and everybody that came in had a story,” he said. “I also grew up around a lot of really quiet social justice. I would see Dot give people food who needed it. My parents were always helping other people very quietly, never wanting any attention for it.
“Also, when I was a child, there was a massive strip mine right across from our house,” he added. “I think early on that gave me a real sense of not only injustice, but also that nothing lasts.”
House said he also has been nourished by the community of Kentucky writers. As a young writer, famous authors such as Kingsolver, Wendell Berry, George Ella Lyon and Chris Offutt took his work seriously and encouraged him. He also feels a special kinship with two Spalding classmates who were inducted into the Hall of Fame last year: Crystal Wilkinson and Frank X Walker.
“That has meant a lot to me and I try to pass that on,” he said of the support he has received from other writers. “One way I’ve done that is through editing a series at the University Press of Kentucky” to help promising Kentucky and Appalachian writers get published.
“When somebody helps you, the way you can really repay them is to do it for somebody else,” he said. “I think most Kentucky writers are that way.”
Major works:
Clay’s Quilt (novel) 2001
A Parchment of Leaves (novel) 2003
The Coal Tattoo (novel) 2004
The Hurting Part (play) 2005
Long Time Travelling (play) 2009
Eli the Good (novel) 2009
This is My Heart For You (play) 2012
Same Sun Here (novel) 2012
Southernmost (novel) 2018
Lark Ascending (novel) 2022
All These Ghosts (poetry) 2025
Dead Man Blues (murder mystery) 2025
Major awards:
Southern Book Prize (2023)
Nautilus Book Award (2023)
Jim Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists’ Prize (2022)
Weatherford Award, Berea College (2018)
E.B. White Read Aloud Award (2012)
Fellowship of Southern Writers, elected member (2017)
Lee Smith Award for Service to Appalachia, Lincoln Memorial University (2011)
James Still Award from the Fellowship of Southern Writers (2003)
Hobson Prize for Distinguished Achievement in Arts and Letters, Chowan University (2012)
Jesse Stuart Media Award, Kentucky Association of School Librarians (2012)
Helen Lewis Award for Community Service, Appalachian Studies Association (2008)
