Home » Arnow Conference on Appalachian Literature and Culture April 7 in Somerset

Arnow Conference on Appalachian Literature and Culture April 7 in Somerset

Silas House to be keynote speaker

SOMERSET, Ky. (March 29, 2017) — Kentucky author Silas House will be the keynote speaker at the annual Arnow Conference on Appalachian Literature and Culture, on April 7 at Somerset Community College.

Silas House 2 Photo by C. WilliamsThe conference, sponsored by the Somerset Tourist and Convention Commission, is named for author and Wayne County native Harriette Simpson Arnow. This year’s theme is “Digging for Our Roots: Exploring and Sharing Our Past.”

House serves as chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities of Appalachian literature at Berea College. He also is a faculty member in Spalding University’s MFA in creative writing program.

House is the winner of the E. B. White Award, the Audie Award (best narration), the Nautilus Award, a two-time finalist for the Southern Book Critics Circle Prize, a two-time winner of the Kentucky Novel of the Year, the Appalachian Writer of the Year, recipient of the Lee Smith Award, the Hobson Medal for Literature, the Appalachian Book of the Year, the Chaffin Prize for Literature, the Award for Special Achievement from the Fellowship of Southern Writers, The Parents’ Choice Award and many other honors.