Kentucky Poet Laureate Silas House will give a keynote presentation and hold a book reading and signing event on October 22 at Owensboro Community & Technical College as part of a celebration the 20th anniversary of OCTC’s Common Reading program. The event is free and open to the public.
The Common Reading book for Fall 2024 is House’s “A Parchment of Leaves,” which was also chosen for the first year of the program in 2004 as well as for the 10th anniversary in 2014.
“House was the first OCTC Common Reading author to visit campus in the fall of 2004. He graciously returned in 2014 for the 10th anniversary, and we so look forward to his return for the 20th anniversary this fall,” said Kaye Brown, OCTC professor of English, NEH Endowment chair, and Common Reading Program co-chair. “His obvious love for Kentucky shines through in his books and spills out onto OCTC and the whole Owensboro community. Hopefully, many will take time to hear him speak in October and come celebrate 20 years of finding common ground through literature.”
House’s keynote presentation will begin at 12:30 p.m. in Blandford Lecture Hall, located in the Humanities Building on OCTC’s main campus at 4800 New Hartford Road. No reservations or tickets are needed.
There will also be a celebration and reception for OCTC’s Common Reading Program from 5-7 p.m. on October 22 at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum. The reception is free to attend but is ticketed. To reserve a spot, click here.
“OCTC’s Common Read has been recognized over the years by a number of organizations as one of the top common reading programs in the country,” said OCTC President Dr. Scott Williams. “That is why we are so proud to celebrate 20 years of educational excellence to our students and community resulting from the dedicated OCTC faculty and staff that are committed to such an exceptional program.”
House is a nationally bestselling author of several novels, a book of creative nonfiction, and three plays. He is a former commentator for NPR’s “All Things Considered.” He is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers and is the winner of the Nautilus Award, an EB White Award, the Appalachian Book of the Year, and other honors. Most recently, he was awarded the 2023 Southern Book Prize in Fiction.
In 2021, House was the recipient of the Governor’s Award for his service to the arts in his home state. House serves as the NEH Chair of Appalachian Studies at Berea College and on the fiction faculty at Spalding University in Louisville. He is a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University and Spalding University. House, a native of Whitley County and Laurel County, Kentucky, now lives in Lexington.
For more information about OCTC’s Common Reading program and the upcoming events this semester, contact [email protected].
