OCTC to Celebrate 20th Year Anniversary of Common Reading Program with Kentucky Poet Laureate, Silas House

Silas House joins us for the third time in 20 years on Oct. 22, 2024 for a keynote presentation, book reading and signing, and reception

by Katie Powers

Owensboro, KY (09/05/2024) — Owensboro Community & Technical College (OCTC) invites the community to participate in all upcoming Common Reading events this Fall 2024 semester as well as to celebrate the program's 20th year anniversary. All Common Reading events are free and open to the public.

Keynote Presentation: Join us on Tuesday, October 22, 2024 at 12:30 p.m. for a keynote presentation, book reading, and book signing by Silas House, Kentucky Poet Laureate. The book for Fall 2024 is "A Parchment of Leaves," which was also chosen for the first year of the program in 2004 as well as for the 10th year anniversary in 2014. The presentation will take place in Blandford Lecture Hall located in our Humanities Building on OCTC's main campus at 4800 New Hartford Rd, Owensboro, KY 42303. No reservation/RSVP/ticket needed.

Reception: The 20th Year Anniversary Celebration and Reception for OCTC's Common Reading Program will be held on Tuesday, October 22, 2024, 5 p.m.-7 p.m. at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum. This is a FREE but TICKETED event-open to the community. To reserve your spot, please visit https://owensboro.kctcs.edu/about/student-life/common-reading/index.aspx.

The college reserves the right to adjust events. All events related to the Common Reading will be posted online at facebook.com/octccommonread. For more information, please contact kaye.brown@kctcs.edu.

OCTC President, Dr. Scott Williams added, "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. 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."

About the Author and the Book

Silas House is the nationally bestselling author of the novels "Clay's Quilt," 2001; "A Parchment of Leaves," 2003; "The Coal Tattoo," 2005; "Eli the Good," 2009; "Same Sun Here" (co-authored with Neela Vaswani) 2012, "Southernmost," 2018; "Lark Ascending," 2022; a book of creative nonfiction "Something's Rising" (co-authored with Jason Howard); and three plays.

House is a former commentator for NPR's "All Things Considered." His writing has appeared recently in "Time," "The Atlantic," "Ecotone," "The Advocate," "Garden and Gun," and "Oxford American." 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.

In 2021 he was the recipient of the Governor's Award for his service to the arts in his home state and is currently the Kentucky Poet Laureate. Most recently, Silas House has been awarded the 2023 Southern Book Prize in Fiction. 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.

Adapted from: https://authorsunbound.com/silas-house/

"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! 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!" said Kaye Brown, OCTC professor of English, NEH Endowment chair, and Common Reading Program co-chair.

For more information about OCTC's Common Reading program and the upcoming events this semester, please contact kaye.brown@kctcs.edu.

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