Silas House is the nationally bestselling author of six books: Same Sun Here (Candlewick Press, 2012), Eli the Good (Candlewick Press, 2009), Something’s Rising: Appalachians Fighting Mountaintop Removal (University Press of Kentucky, 2009), The Coal Tattoo (Algonquin Books, 2004), A Parchment of Leaves (Algonquin Books, 2002), and Clay’s Quilt (Algonquin Books, 2001), as well as three plays. He is a frequent contributor to The New York Times, a former commentator for NPR’s “All Things Considered,” and his writing has appeared in Newsday, Oxford American, Narrative, and many others. His honors include the Appalachian Writers’ Association Book of the Year Award, the Intellectual Freedom Prize from the National Council of English Teachers, the E.B. White Award, the Nautilus Award, the Caritas Medal, and many others. House serves as the NEH Chair of Appalachian Studies at Berea College and on the fiction faculty at Spalding University’s MFA in creative writing.  

Photo by C Williams