The University Press of Kentucky announces the launch of Fox Hill Books, a new literary imprint edited by award-winning and bestselling author Silas House.
Dedicated to publishing exceptional literature rooted in working-class experiences, Fox Hill Books will elevate emerging voices and spotlight established writers from both urban and rural Appalachia while remaining open to works from beyond the region that align with its mission. The imprint will publish short story collections, poetry, essays, and novels that offer nuanced, authentic depictions of working-class and Appalachian communities, to expand public understanding and complexify the lives of those who are often reduced to stereotypes in mass media.
“Often I believe that larger publishing houses overlook vital, vibrant voices simply because not enough of their staff think that people are interested in complicated portrayals of working-class and Appalachian people,” said House. “It’s my goal to shine a light on the best voices who are dedicated to showing these experiences in thought-provoking ways.”
Each year, up to four books will be selected for publication through the imprint. As part of the University Press of Kentucky’s publishing program, all projects will undergo the Press’s standard editorial process, including peer review, editorial board approval, copyediting, design, production, and marketing support.
The inaugural Fox Hill Books titles will be published in Spring 2027:
• Cannonball: Stories by Chelyen Davis is set in the mountains of contemporary Virginia, where a cast of unforgettable characters—a well-meaning arsonist, a meteorite thief, a grieving addict, and a woman haunted by the ghost of Conway Twitty—navigate questions of identity, belonging, and home. Perfect for readers of Lee Smith and Deesha Philyaw, Cannonball offers an intimate, unforgettable portrait of people searching for connection in a place they can never fully leave behind.
Chelyen Davis is a southwest Virginia native whose writing has appeared in publications such as Appalachian Review, Still: The Journal, the Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Untelling, Brown Hound Press, and New Stories from the South, 2026. Her work received Appalachian Review’s Denny C. Plattner Award in 2016 and won Still: The Journal’s 2014 fiction contest. She has worked as a political journalist and as a speechwriter to a governor and a university president. She lives in Richmond, Virginia.
• Road to the Stars: Poems by James Long is a powerful collection that traces one man’s journey from a hippie childhood in the hills of West Virginia to a career in corporate banking, exploring the enduring pull of family, class, and place along the way. Rooted in Appalachia yet resonant far beyond it, Road to the Stars is a moving meditation on selfhood, memory, and the inescapable gravity of where we come from.
James Long’s poems have appeared in Appalachian Review, Kestrel, I-70 Review, and other literary journals. He is a four-time winner of the West Virginia Writers, Inc. annual writing contest and a Buckhannon, West Virginia, native.
“There were so many writers who encouraged and guided me on my journey of becoming and being a writer,” House said. “I hope that my work with Fox Hill can be helpful to a new generation that seeks to represent their place and their people with dignity and honesty.”
Silas House
Silas House is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of nine novels, including The Tulip Poplars. His poetry collection All These Ghosts earned him his second Southern Book Prize. Writing as S.D. House, he also authored the national bestselling mystery Dead Man Blues (2025), a Barnes & Noble Book Club selection.
House served as Kentucky Poet Laureate from 2023 to 2025 and was a Grammy Award finalist in 2024. In 2022, he received the Duggins Prize, the nation’s largest literary award for an LGBTQ writer. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, Time, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Bitter Southerner, and numerous other publications.
As series editor for Fireside Industries, House helped bring several acclaimed books to publication, including Drowned Town by Jayne Moore Waldrop, Even As We Breathe by Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle, Daughters of Muscadine by Monic Ductan, and The Girl Singer by Marianne Worthington.
House serves as the National Endowment for the Humanities Chair at Berea College and teaches on the fiction faculty of the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing.
University Press of Kentucky