Silas Dwane House (born August 7, 1971) is an American writer best known for his
novel
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
s. He is also a
music journalist
Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...
,
environmental activist
The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement), also including conservation and green politics, is a diverse philosophical, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues. Environmentalists advoc ...
, and
columnist
A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...
. 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 is known as a representative for LGBTQ Appalachians and Southerners and is certainly among the most visible LGBTQ people associated with rural America.
Early life and education
House was born in
Corbin, Kentucky
Corbin is a home rule in the United States, home rule-class list of Kentucky cities, city in Whitley County, Kentucky, Whitley, Knox County, Kentucky, Knox and Laurel County, Kentucky, Laurel counties in the southeastern portion of the U.S. stat ...
and grew up in nearby rural Lily,
Laurel County,
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...
, 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
Eastern Kentucky University
Eastern Kentucky University (Eastern or EKU) is a public university in Richmond, Kentucky. As a regional comprehensive institution, EKU also maintains branch campuses in Corbin, Hazard, Lancaster, and Manchester and offers over 40 online un ...
(BA in English with emphasis on American literature), and from
Spalding University
Spalding University is a private Catholic university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is affiliated with the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth.
History
Spalding University traces its origins to Nazareth Academy, one of the oldest educational instituti ...
(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 University
Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
. At the time he was a rural mail carrier. He sold his first novel shortly thereafter.
Writing
House's first novel, ''
Clay's Quilt ''Clay's Quilt'' is a 2001 novel by Silas House, first published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill and reissued by Ballantine/Random House in 2003. The book appeared briefly on the New York Times bestseller list and became a word-of-mouth sleeper hi ...
'', was published in 2001. It appeared briefly on the
''New York Times'' Best Seller list and became a word-of-mouth success throughout the
Southern United States
The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
. 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 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 Smith Lee Smith is the name of:
Arts, entertainment and media
*Lee Smith (fiction author) (born 1944), American author of fiction
*Lee Smith (film editor) (born 1960), Australian film editor
*Lee Smith (musician) (born 1983), American drummer
*Lee Smith ...
,
Brad Watson, and
Larry Brown, all of whom were mentors for House.
Barbara Kingsolver
Barbara Kingsolver (born April 8, 1955) is an American novelist, essayist and poet. She was raised in rural Kentucky and lived briefly in the Congo in her early childhood. Kingsolver earned degrees in biology at DePauw University and the Univers ...
has said in print that House is one of he
"favorite writers and favorite human beings"and environmental writer and activist
Wendell Berry
Wendell Erdman Berry (born August 5, 1934) is an American novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer. Closely identified with rural Kentucky, Berry developed many of his agrarian themes in the early essays of ...
has expressed his appreciation of House many times, including during a
interviewwith the New York Times
In March 2009, House published ''Something's Rising'' with creative nonfiction writer Jason Kyle Howard. The book is a series of profiles of various anti-mountaintop removal activists from the region, including musicians
Jean Ritchie
Jean Ruth Ritchie (December 8, 1922 – June 1, 2015) was an American folk singer, songwriter, and Appalachian dulcimer player, called by some the "Mother of Folk". In her youth she learned hundreds of folk songs in the traditional way (orally ...
and
Kathy Mattea
Kathleen Alice Mattea (born June 21, 1959) is an American country music and bluegrass singer. Active since 1984 as a recording artist, she has charted more than 30 singles on the '' Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts, including four that re ...
, author
Denise Giardina
Denise Giardina is an American novelist. Her book '' Storming Heaven'' was a Discovery Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club and received the 1987 W. D. Weatherford Award for the best published work about the Appalachian South. '' The Unquiet Ea ...
, and activist
Judy Bonds. The book was called "revelatory" by esteemed author and oral historian
Studs Terkel
Louis "Studs" Terkel (May 16, 1912 – October 31, 2008) was an American writer, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for '' The Good War'' and is best remembered for his oral his ...
, in his last blurb. Writers
Lee Smith Lee Smith is the name of:
Arts, entertainment and media
*Lee Smith (fiction author) (born 1944), American author of fiction
*Lee Smith (film editor) (born 1960), Australian film editor
*Lee Smith (musician) (born 1983), American drummer
*Lee Smith ...
and
Hal Crowther co-authored the introduction.
House's fourth novel, ''Eli the Good'', was published in September 2009 to great acclaim. The book emerged as a number one bestseller on the Southern lists and received the first annual Storylines Prize from the New York Public Library system, an award given to a book for use in the ESL and literacy programs of New York City, as well as an E.B. White Award given by the American Booksellers Association.
His short story ''Recruiters'', which has appeared in ''Anthology of Appalachian Writing, Vol. 2'' now has a new Larkspur Press edition from Kentucky's Artisan Printer. This special edition is illustrated Arwen Donahue and includes the original song ''Brennen's Ballad'' by Sue Massek, which was the inspiration for the story.
House's first book for middle-graders, ''Same Sun Here'', was published in February 2012 and co-written with Neela Vaswani. The book was the winner of the Parents Choice Award and was the #1 Most Recommended Book by Independent Booksellers in the entire nation during the Spring of 2012. House and Vaswani recorded the highly successful audiobook version of the novel, which won an Earphones Award, and the Audie Award for Best Narration, the highest honor given to audiobooks. The novel won over a dozen awards, including the Nautilus Award and a South Asian Book Association Honor Book.
House's sixth novel, ''Southernmost'' was published in June 2018 and was long-listed for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. The book was a SIBA bestseller and received wide acclaim, especially among other writers, such as Dorothy Allison, Jennifer Haigh, Lee Smith, Garth Greenwell, and many others. It won the 2019
Judy Gaines Young Book Award
The Judy Gaines Young Book Award is given annually by Transylvania University to honor the author of a book of distinction written in the Appalachian region in the previous two or three years. The award was endowed in 2015 by Dr. Byron Young, a Le ...
, given by
Transylvania University
Transylvania University is a private university in Lexington, Kentucky. It was founded in 1780 and was the first university in Kentucky. It offers 46 major programs, as well as dual-degree engineering programs, and is accredited by the Southern ...
annually to recognize an excellent book from the
Appalachian region Appalachian may refer to:
* Appalachian Mountains, a major mountain range in eastern United States and Canada
* Appalachian Trail, a hiking trail in the eastern United States
* The people of Appalachia and their culture
** Appalachian Americans, e ...
. The book won the Weatherford Award for Fiction, was long-listed for the 2019
Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and short-listed for the Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction. House compiled a music playlist on the literature and music blog ''Largehearted Boy'' to accompany ''Southernmost.'' The playlist includes music by Brandi Carlile, Celia Cruz, Patsy Cline, and others.
House's seventh novel, ''Lark Ascending'', was released in fall of 2022 and was an immediate indie bestseller and a finalist for the Southern Book Prize. The book received praise from authors such as Barbara Kingsolver, Billy O'Callaghan, Wiley Cash, Margaret Renkl, Michelle Gallen, and others. The novel is considered a departure for House as it is set twenty years in the future, mostly in Ireland. House has said the book is his mediation on grief, the demise of democracy, and the climate crisis.
House's writing has appeared several times in ''The New York Times'' (including his hugely popular essay
The Art of Being Still) and ''The Atlantic''. Recently his work has also appeared in ''Time'', ''The Washington Post'', ''The Bitter Southerner'', and other publications. In 2022 one of his essays was chosen as notable by editor Alexander Chee for the book Best American Essays 2022. House's work has been anthologized in such books as ''New Stories From the South: The Year's Best, 2004'' and ''Best Food Writing: 2014''. 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. House's essays and short stories have been featured on NPR's ''All Things Considered'' several times during his time there as a commentator.
House is also a playwright. In 2005, House wrote the play ''The Hurting Part'', which was produced by the
University of Kentucky
The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...
. In 2009 his second play, ''Long Time Travelling'', was produced by the Actor's Guild of Lexington (Kentucky). In 2012, Berea College Laboratory Theatre presented his controversial play, ''This Is My Heart For You'', about a small town divided by a gay rights discrimination case and hate crime. The latter two plays were both subsequently staged at the Contemporary American Theatre Festival.
Awards and honors
In 2018 House's novel ''Southernmost'' was long-listed for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and short-listed for the Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction as well as winning the Weatherford Award for Best Novel and the Judy Gaines Young Award. In 2017 he was inducted into the Fellowship of Southern Writers. House has been awarded three honorary doctorates. His other awards include the Nautilus, the Storylines Prize, the Hobson Medal for Literature, the Intellectual Freedom Award from the National Council of English Teachers, the Appalachian Book of the Year, the Lee Smith Award, the James Still Award from the Fellowship of Southern Writers, the Jesse Stuart Media Prize, two Kentucky Novel of the Year awards, and many others. In 2016 he was invited to speak at the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
.
In 2019, House was awarded the Judy Gaines Young Book Award for excellence in Appalachian writing in the last five years. The contest was judged by Kathleen Driskell, a poet and the winner of the previous year's Judy Gaines Young Award.
In 2021 House was honored with the Artist Award from the Governors Award for the Arts, chosen by Kentucky governor
Andy Beshear
Andrew Graham Beshear (born November 29, 1977) is an American attorney and politician who has served as the 63rd governor of Kentucky since December 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he is the son of the 61st governor of Kentucky, Steve B ...
, recognizing House's contributions in the arts to his home state.
In 2022, House was given the largest monetary prize for an LGBTQ writer in the United States.
Jim Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists' Prize The Jim Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists' Prize is an American literary award, presented to two writers, one male and one female, from the LGBT community to honour their body of work. First presented by the Saints and Sinners Literary Festi ...
is awarded through Lambda Literary.
Academic career
House served as a writer in residence at
Eastern Kentucky University
Eastern Kentucky University (Eastern or EKU) is a public university in Richmond, Kentucky. As a regional comprehensive institution, EKU also maintains branch campuses in Corbin, Hazard, Lancaster, and Manchester and offers over 40 online un ...
2004-2005 and at
Lincoln Memorial University
Lincoln Memorial University (LMU) is a private university in Harrogate, Tennessee. LMU's campus borders on Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. As of fall 2019, it had 1,975 undergraduate and 2,892 graduate and professional students.
LMU ...
2005–2010. At LMU he also created and directed the Mountain Heritage Literary Festival and the Appalachian Reading Series. In 2010 House became the NEH Chair in Appalachian Studies at
Berea College
Berea College is a private liberal arts work college in Berea, Kentucky. Founded in 1855, Berea College was the first college in the Southern United States to be coeducational and racially integrated. Berea College charges no tuition; every adm ...
in
Berea, Kentucky
Berea is a List of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city in Madison County, Kentucky, Madison County, Kentucky, in the United States. The town is best known for its art festivals, historic restaurants and buildings, and as the home to Berea Coll ...
, where he teaches Appalachian Literature and a writing workshop. He served for one year, 2011–2012, as interim director of the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center. He has served on the fiction faculty at Spalding University's MFA in Creative Writing since 2005.
In 2010 House was selected as the focus of the Silas House Literary Festival at
Emory and Henry College
Emory & Henry College (E&H or Emory) is a private liberal arts college in Emory, Virginia. The campus comprises of Washington County, which is part of the Appalachian highlands of Southwest Virginia. Founded in 1836, Emory & Henry College is ...
in
Emory, Virginia
Emory is a census-designated place (CDP) in Washington County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,251 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Kingsport– Bristol (TN)– Bristol (VA) Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a com ...
. The same year he was chosen as Appalachian Writer of the Year by
Shepherd University
Shepherd University is a public university in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, the university enrolled 3,159 students in Fall 2020.
History
Shepherd University began when the county seat of Jefferson ...
in
Shepherdstown, West Virginia
Shepherdstown is a town in Jefferson County, West Virginia, Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States, located in the lower Shenandoah Valley along the Potomac River. Home to Shepherd University, the town's population was 1,734 at the time of ...
.
Music writing
House is also a music journalist and a contributing editor to ''
No Depression'' magazine, for which he has written features on
Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Gayle Williams (born January 26, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter and a solo guitarist. She recorded her first two albums: '' Ramblin' on My Mind'' (1979) and '' Happy Woman Blues'' (1980), in a traditional country and blues style ...
,
Delbert McClinton
Delbert McClinton (born November 4, 1940) is an American blues rock and electric blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, harmonica player, and pianist.
From his first professional stage appearance in 1957 to his most recent national tour in 2018, ...
, and many others. House is also an in-demand press kit writer for
Nashville's music business, having written press kit biographies for such artists as
Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is a retired American singer, songwriter and actor. Among his songwriting credits are "Me and Bobby McGee", " For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Nig ...
,
Jason Isbell
Michael Jason Isbell (; born February 1, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is known for his solo career, his work with the band The 400 Unit, and as a member of Drive-By Truckers for six years, from 2001 to 2007. Isbell h ...
,
Tyler Childers
Timothy Tyler Childers (born June 21, 1991) is an American singer and songwriter. His music is a mix of neotraditional country, bluegrass, and folk. He released his breakthrough album ''Purgatory'' in August 2017. Childers has released five stu ...
,
Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Gayle Williams (born January 26, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter and a solo guitarist. She recorded her first two albums: '' Ramblin' on My Mind'' (1979) and '' Happy Woman Blues'' (1980), in a traditional country and blues style ...
,
Buddy Miller
Steven Paul "Buddy" Miller (born September 6, 1952) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist and producer, currently living in Nashville, Tennessee. Miller is married to and has recorded with singer-songwriter Julie Miller. ...
,
S.G. Goodman
S.G. Goodman is an American singer-songwriter.
Early life
Goodman is from Hickman, Kentucky. The Southern Baptist church played a central role in her childhood in Kentucky. Goodman began performing by singing in church. Her father was a farmer. ...
,
Del McCoury
Delano Floyd McCoury (born February 1, 1939) is an American bluegrass musician. As leader of the Del McCoury Band, he plays guitar and sings lead vocals along with his two sons, Ronnie McCoury and Rob McCoury, who play mandolin and banjo respec ...
,
Lee Ann Womack
Lee Ann Womack Liddell (; born August 19, 1966) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Her 2000 single, " I Hope You Dance" was a major crossover music hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Country Chart and the Top 15 ...
, and many others. In 2001 and 2002, he was a regular contributor to
NPR's ''
All Things Considered
''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...
''.
Activism
Between 2005 and 2010 House was very visible in the fight against
mountaintop removal mining
Mountaintop removal mining (MTR), also known as mountaintop mining (MTM), is a form of surface mining at the summit or summit ridge of a mountain. Coal seams are extracted from a mountain by removing the land, or overburden, above the seams. Thi ...
, an environmentally devastating form of
coal mining
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
that blasts the entire top off a mountain and fills the valley below with the debris. House says he got involved in the issue after being invited on a tour of devastated mountains by environmentalist, author, and public intellectual
Wendell Berry
Wendell Erdman Berry (born August 5, 1934) is an American novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer. Closely identified with rural Kentucky, Berry developed many of his agrarian themes in the early essays of ...
. 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, including a
editorialin ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. House serves on the board of
Appalachian Voices
Appalachian Voices is an American environmental organization. Their stated environmental concerns include eliminating air pollution, ending mountaintop removal, cleaning up coal ash pollution and promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency ...
, the major clearing house for grassroots organizations fighting mountaintop removal, was a speaker in 2011 at Appalachia Rising, a major protest in Washington D.C. that resulted in more than 115 arrests, and in 2013 was the keynote speaker at I Love Mountains Day.
House has been joined in this fight by other Kentucky writers, such as
Wendell Berry
Wendell Erdman Berry (born August 5, 1934) is an American novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer. Closely identified with rural Kentucky, Berry developed many of his agrarian themes in the early essays of ...
,
Bobbie Ann Mason
Bobbie Ann Mason (born May 1, 1940) is an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and literary critic from Kentucky. Her memoir was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Early life and education
A child of Wilburn and Christina Mason, Bobb ...
, and
Maurice Manning
Maurice Manning (born 14 June 1943) is an Irish academic and former Fine Gael politician. Manning was a member of the Oireachtas (Irish Parliament) for 21 years, serving in both the Dáil Éireann, Dáil and the Seanad Éireann, Seanad. Since Aug ...
.
In recent years House has become increasingly outspoken o
bullyingan
issues. He wrote an editorial for ''The New York Times'' about the fight for
gay equality
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements are social movements that advocate for LGBT people in society. Some focus on equal rights, such as the ongoing movement for same-sex marriage, while others focus on liberation, as in the ...
in small towns that led to him being invited to speak at the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
in August 2015. In 2017, he participated in the
Women's March Women's March may refer to:
* Women's March on Versailles, a 1789 march in Paris
* Women's Sunday, a 1908 suffragette march in London
* Woman Suffrage Procession, a 1913 march and rally in Washington, D.C.
* Women's March (South Africa), a 1956 mar ...
in
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...
, as one of the main speakers.
Personal life
House was born and raised in Southeastern Kentucky. He presently lives in Lexington, Kentucky. He has two children and is married to writer and editor Jason Kyle Howard. He is an
Episcopalian
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the l ...
.
Works
*2001 ''
Clay's Quilt ''Clay's Quilt'' is a 2001 novel by Silas House, first published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill and reissued by Ballantine/Random House in 2003. The book appeared briefly on the New York Times bestseller list and became a word-of-mouth sleeper hi ...
'' (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
''Jason Howard'' is an American comic book artist known for such comics as ''Trees (comics), Trees'' with Warren Ellis and ''The Astounding Wolf-Man'' with Robert Kirkman.
References
External links
*
*
Living people
American comics art ...
)
*2009 ''Long Time Travelling'' (play)
*2009 ''Eli the Good'' (novel)
*2009 ''Coal Country'' (edited by Silas House, Shirley Stewart Burns, and Mari Lyn Evans)
*2011 ''Chinaberry'' (a novel by James Still edited by Silas House)
*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
External links
Silas House's website''Southern Hum'' Interview''Creative Loafing'' interviewRandom House books discussion guide on ''Clay's Quilt''Random House books discussion guide on ''The Coal Tattoo''Random House Books discussion guide on ''A Parchment of Leaves''''No Depression'' website''Lee Smith'' websiteAudio recording: Silas House at the Key West Literary Seminar, 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:House, Silas
1971 births
Living people
21st-century American novelists
American music critics
American columnists
American environmentalists
American music journalists
Novelists from Kentucky
People from Laurel County, Kentucky
People from Leslie County, Kentucky
Spalding University alumni
Berea College faculty
21st-century American dramatists and playwrights
American male novelists
American male dramatists and playwrights
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
American male non-fiction writers
Appalachian writers
Activists from Kentucky
American gay writers
LGBT people from Kentucky