House's first novel, ''
Clay's Quilt, was published in 2001. It appeared on the New York Times'' Best Seller list and became a word-of-mouth success throughout the
Southern United States. It was a finalist for both the Southeast Booksellers' Association Fiction Award and the Appalachian Writers' Association Book of the Year Award. and environmental writer and activist
Wendell Berry has expressed his appreciation of House many times, including during an interview with the
New York Times. House published ''Something's Rising'' with creative nonfiction writer Jason Kyle Howard in March 2009. The book is a series of profiles of various anti-mountaintop removal activists from the region, including musicians
Jean Ritchie and
Kathy Mattea, author
Denise Giardina, and activist
Judy Bonds. The book was called "revelatory" by esteemed author and oral historian
Studs Terkel, in his last blurb. Writers
Lee Smith and
Hal Crowther co-authored the introduction. House's fourth novel,
Eli the Good, was published in September 2009 to great acclaim. The book emerged as a number one bestseller on the Southern lists and received the first annual Storylines Prize from the New York Public Library system, an award given to a book for use in the ESL and literacy programs of New York City, as well as an E.B. White Award given by the American Booksellers Association. His short story "Recruiters", which appeared in
Anthology of Appalachian Writing, Vol. 2, also has a
Larkspur Press edition from Kentucky's Artisan Printer. This special edition is illustrated by Arwen Donahue and includes the original song "Brennen's Ballad" by Sue Massek, which was the inspiration for the story. House's first book written for elementary-aged children,
Same Sun Here, was co-written with
Neela Vaswani and published in February 2012. The book was the winner of the
Parent's Choice Award and was the #1 Most Recommended Book by Independent Booksellers in the nation in the spring of 2012. House and Vaswani recorded the highly successful audiobook version of the novel, which won an Earphones Award, and the Audie Award for Best Narration for Children's Title Ages 8–12, the highest honor given to audiobooks. The novel won over a dozen awards, including the Nautilus Award and a South Asian Book Association Honor Book. House's sixth novel,
Southernmost, was published in June 2018 and was long-listed for the
Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. The book was a SIBA bestseller and received wide acclaim, especially among other writers, including Dorothy Allison, Jennifer Haigh, Lee Smith, and Garth Greenwell. It won the 2019
Judy Gaines Young Book Award, given by
Transylvania University annually to recognize an excellent book from the
Appalachian region. The book won the Weatherford Award for Fiction, was longlisted for the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal, and was short-listed for the
Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction. House's seventh novel,
Lark Ascending, was released in the fall of 2022 and was an immediate indie bestseller, a
USA Today bestseller, and winner of the 2023
Southern Book Prize in the category of fiction. The book received praise from authors such as Barbara Kingsolver, Billy O'Callaghan, Wiley Cash, Margaret Renkl, and Michelle Gallen. The novel is considered a departure for House, as it is set twenty years in the future, mostly in Ireland. House has said the book is his mediation on grief, the demise of democracy, and the climate crisis. House's writing has appeared several times in
The New York Times (including his hugely popular essay "The Art of Being Still") and
The Atlantic. His work has also appeared in
Time,
The Washington Post,
The Bitter Southerner, and other publications. In 2022 one of his essays was chosen by editor Alexander Chee for the book
The Best American Essays 2022. House's work has been anthologized in ''New Stories From the South: The Year's Best, 2004
and Best Food Writing: 2014
. He wrote the introductions to Missing Mountains
, a study of mountaintop removal; From Walton's Mountain to Tomorrow
, a biography of Earl Hamner, Jr.; and Gregory of Nyssa's Life of Moses'', a new edition by HarperCollins. House's essays and short stories have been featured on
NPR's
All Things Considered several times during his time there as a commentator. House is also a playwright. In 2005, he wrote the play
The Hurting Part, which was produced by the
University of Kentucky. In 2009 his second play,
Long Time Travelling, was produced by the Actor's Guild of Lexington (Kentucky). In 2012,
Berea College Laboratory Theatre presented his controversial play,
This Is My Heart For You, about a small town divided by a
gay rights discrimination case and
hate crime. The latter two plays were both subsequently staged at the
Contemporary American Theatre Festival in
Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Since 2021, House has served as editor of the imprint Fireside Industries at the
University Press of Kentucky. Books he has acquired and edited there have been widely acclaimed, and include
Even as We Breathe by Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle, the first novel to be published by an enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee;
Daughters of Muscadine by Monic Ductan (2024 Tennessee Book of the Year Award-Novel);
The Girl Singer by Marianne Worthington (2023 Weatherford Book of the Year Award); and
Drowned Town by Jayne Moore Waldrop (2022 Foreword Indies Book of the Year Award). ==Academic career==