House to speak at governor's swearing in

Dec. 11—FRANKFORT — Lily native and nationally recognized author Silas House is scheduled to appear in Kentucky's capital Tuesday for the commonwealth's 62nd Inauguration Day.

"Inauguration Day will be a celebration of the Team Kentucky spirit that moves us Forward, Together," Gov. Beshear stated. "Our health care heroes and public school educators will serve as the parade's grand marshals, and we'll have incredible Kentucky artists and community leaders sharing their talents throughout the day."

The public swearing-in ceremony will feature a musical performance by Tyler Childers and a reading by House, whom the state's Art Council named as Kentucky Poet Laureate last spring.

House is the New York Times bestselling author of "Clay's Quilt" (2001), "A Parchment of Leaves" (2003), "The Coal Tattoo" (2005), "Eli the Good" (2009), and "Same Sun Here" (2012, with Neela Vaswani). His most recent, "Lark Ascending," which was a Booklist Editors' Choice and is the winner of the 2023 Southern Book Prize. Four of his plays have been produced. He is also the author of the 2009 book of creative nonfiction "Something's Rising" (with co-author Jason Kyle Howard).

In 2022, House was the recipient of the Duggins Prize, the largest award for an LGBTQ writer in the nation. The same year he was named Appalachian of the Year in a nationwide poll. In 2021, House was given the Artist Award as part of the Governor's Awards in the Arts.

Kentuckians can watch the inaugural parade, starting at 11 a.m. EST, the public swearing-in ceremony at 2 p.m. EST and the Grand March at 6 p.m. EST on KET or on its website.