| Olympia Vernon | |
| Birth Date: | 22 May 1973 |
| Birth Place: | Bogalusa, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Novelist |
| Education: | Southeastern Louisiana University (BA) Louisiana State University (MFA) |
Olympia Vernon (born May 22, 1973) is an American author who has published three novels: Eden (2002), Logic (2004), and A Killing In This Town (2006). Eden won the 2004 Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award from The American Academy of Arts and Letters.[1]
Vernon was born in Bogalusa, Louisiana, and grew up in Mount Hermon, Louisiana, and Osyka, Mississippi.[1] The family had seven children. Her father, Fletcher Williams, Jr., graduated from the University of Mississippi. Vernon attended South Pike High School in Magnolia, Mississippi. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in criminal justice from Southeastern Louisiana University (SLU) in 1999.[1] She also earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from Louisiana State University in 2002.[1] She was appointed writer-in-residence at SLU in 2004.[2]
She wrote her first novel, Eden, while in graduate school. In 2005 she received the Louisiana Governor's Award for Professional Artist of the Year. In 2007-08 Vernon was the Hallie Ford Chair in Writing at Willamette University.[1] In 2007, she won the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence for A Killing In This Town.[1]