Hallie Ford Chair
The Hallie Ford Chair in English Literature was established in 1996 through an endowment supported by Hallie Ford, a former Willamette student and current trustee. It consists of a two- or three-year post, for a creative writer of national repute, alternating between poets and novelists. Since its inception, it has been held by Ginny Furtwangler, Craig Lesley, Janice M. Gould, and James Bertolino.
The current Hallie Ford Chair is Olympia F. Vernon, the author of three critically-acclaimed novels. Her first, Eden, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and won the 2004 Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Ann Powers of the New York Times Book Review wrote that Eden is "daring [and] explosively supernatural … a startling reminder of how forceful Southern magic can be." Eden was a New York Times New and Noteworthy Paperback. Vernon's second novel, Logic, was nominated for the 2005 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award. USA Today wrote "Yes, in the land of American Idol and The Bachelor, there remains a segment of the public that relishes experimental fiction that challenges the heart and the mind." A Killing in This Town, Vernon's third novel, was released in February 2006; Maud Casey of the New York Times Book Review wrote that Vernon "vividly lays out a collection of blasted lives." A Killing in This Town was a New York Times Editor's Choice pick. Vernon has published several short stories, including "In His Favor" for Andrei Codrescu's online magazine, Exquisite Corpse, "Schevoski" (New Orleans Noir 2007), "And So" (Women's Studies Quarterly 2007), and "Redemption" (African American Review).