Olympia Vernon, the first creative writing student to sign with a publishing house while still enrolled at LSU, will be signing her novel from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. today in the LSU Bookstore.
“Eden” is about a 14-year-old girl, Maddy Dangerfield, who draws a naked woman on the pages of Genesis in red lipstick during Sunday school, Vernon said.
Since the small town gossip mortifies her mother, Maddy is forced to care for her terminally ill Aunt Pip, an outcast who lives on the wrong side of town, Vernon said.
The novel displays the transformation of a young girl into a woman through her experiences with her aunt, Vernon said.
Vernon finished writing her fiction novel, “Eden,” in one month during her second semester at LSU, she said. She found an agent in December 2000, choosing Grove/Atlantic because it produces more raw, powerful books than Random House, Vernon said.
“I’m sort of like a rebel,” Vernon said.
She also said Grove/Atlantic is known for putting writers in the spotlight, while her work would feel lost in thousands of books if she went with Random House.
Grove/Atlantic also offered her $5,000 more than Random House, she said.
Vernon’s publicist and associate director for fiction at Grove/Atlantic, Deb Seager, said Vernon’s deal with Grove/Atlantic was unusual because she is very young and still in school.
“She has an amazing talent,” Seager said.
Vernon said she anticipated returning to LSU to sign her books.
Judy Kahn, an English instructor, teaches Vernon’s novel in one of her classes, Vernon said.
“For me it’s kind of surreal,” she said.
Vernon said she always has written and will continue to write for the rest of her life.
“I was writing in my mom’s belly,” she said.
She did not realize her talent until a professor at Southeastern Louisiana University told her she had a gift and needed to do something with it, Vernon said.
“People have gifts and don’t realize they have this gift,” she said.
The way Vernon writes is like an inspiration from a higher power, she said.
When there is something she feels she needs to write about, she has to get it out, she said.
“I always say — it’s all because of angels,” Vernon said.
“Eden” took Vernon one month enclosure in her own little world to complete, she said.
When she finished the novel, she was completely transformed — she lost 30 pounds, she said.
After writing the novel, she did not look at it again until it was time for publication.
Although Vernon is convinced she would have done what she has done no matter what, she said she owes a great deal to LSU for being so supportive.
“I want to thank LSU for being so open-minded — letting students do whatever the hell they want to,” Vernon said. “They support freedom of speech.”
She said LSU was the first university she has been where a person could put crosses on the Parade Ground to protest abortion or where people could preach, openly displaying their opinions.
“LSU is the most underrated university in the world,” Vernon said. “It should get more credit.”
“Eden” received many positive reviews, from newspapers such as The Times-Picayune, the Baltimore Sun and The Baton Rouge Advocate.