Olympia Vernon 
Major Works
- Eden Grove Press (December 10, 2002
- Logic Grove Press (May 1, 2004)
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Olympia Vernon: A Biography
By Latorian Jones (SHS)
Olympia Vernon was raised in a small town and grew up in Mt. Hermon and Osyka, Mississippi. The town was on the border between Mississippi and Louisiana.  Vernon was the fourth of seven children. Originally, Vernon wanted a career in law enforcement and graduated from Southeastern Louisiana University with a B.A. in Criminal Justice. However, her English professors, William Dowie and Carole McAllister, encouraged her to write. In the fall of 1999, she went to LSU to pursue her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and received her M. F. A. in the spring of 2002. She twice was granted the Matt Clark Memorial Scholarship.
Vernon's first novel Eden was nominated for the Robert O. Butler award in fiction in 2000<>. This critically-acclaimed novel won the 2004 Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In May, 2004, she published her second novel called Logic about a young girl named Logic Harris, a thirteen year old girl who has not been right in the head since she fell out of a tree in Mississippi. Logic is also getting good reviews..
Currently, Vernon lives in Tangipahoa Parish and is the Writer-in-Residence at Southeastern Louisiana University.
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A Review
of Eden
by Latorian Jones (SHS)
Eden, a novel by Olympia Vernon, is a great coming of age story. Maddy, the protagonist, is an outspoken fourteen year old girl. She lives in Pyke County, Mississippi, with her mother Faye and Chevrolet, her father. The story is told by Maddy in the first person. At the beginning of the book, Maddy draws a naked woman on the pages of Genesis with a fire-engine-red lipstick during Bible study class. Maddy's mother is horrified by the townspeople's gossip about Maddy, so she sends Maddy to Commitment Road.
Maddy's Aunt Pip lives on Commitment Road, and Maddy is sent there to care for Aunt Pip because she is dying of breast cancer. Faye, Maddy's mother, and Pip have not spoken to each other in a long time because Faye had found out that her sister Pip was sleeping with her husband Chevrolet. Aunt Pip has become an outcast.
Maddy learns many lessons about life while caring for her sick Aunt Pip. All the characters in the story are special in their own little way. The book Eden has a spiritual quality. Maddy’s mother Faye is always praying when she gets in a fight with Chevrolet. Faye has a lot of faith. She believes in God, and she attends church all the time. In the novel, Maddy finds out what God really means to her. Eden is a very emotional novel.
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Related Websites
Vernon speaks at the final events of Southeastern  Louisiana University’s Women’s History Month celebration. She is a Southeastern graduate who has written a critically-acclaimed first novel.
Excellent book review is available here.
LSU profiles alumna Olympia Vernon.
Vernon chosen writer in residence at Southeastern Louisiana University.
Thumper reviews Logic.
Kate Cantrill reviews Eden.
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Bibliography
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