15 Questions with Halle Hill
In this edition of 15 Questions we meet Halle Hill, Partnerships and Engagement Manager for Information Systems, and author who published her debut novel Good Women in 2023.
What was your first experience with professional writing?
I can’t recall my first experience, but I became more engaged with professional writing in college working for our campus newspaper. I enjoyed having a weekly deadline and thinking with other student writers on a consistent basis.
Talk about the process of selecting and working with your publishing company.
I am fortunate to have worked with Hub City Press out of Spartanburg, SC for my debut collection. They are the South’s premier independent literary press and have championed Southern voices for over 30 years. We connected after I published a short story in the Oxford American in 2020 and after reading more of my stories they offered me a book deal. The majority of the stories are directly from my MFA thesis and took me more than 6 years to write.
In your debut, Good Women, themes include anger, rejection, and secrets through the eyes of layered, Black, female-centric short stories. Why did you choose this style for such topics?
Short stories offer a distinctive type of immediacy and sensitivity that I couldn’t access through a novel for this book. While the stories are unlinked, they are in conversation with one another and that cohesive family feeling took a natural form through short stories rather than novel chapters.
You also embarked on a multi-state book tour! What was that experience like?
The book tour was exciting and pretty exhausting. I am still catching up with my sleep. I enjoyed it and was grateful to talk about my book with folks all over the US, and even in France.
Any current projects you can share with us?
I am a deeply superstitious person so I won’t speak on something before I have finished it, but I can say I am working on something new and will keep with fiction!
How long have you worked at Wake?
Three years this January.
In layman’s terms, what’s your job here at Wake?
I work on the Strategic Communications team within Information Systems formally as the Partnerships and Engagement Manager. Our team works to dissememinate relevant and timely tech help, resources, and tools with the greater Wake Forest community. My job focuses on writing and expanding community engagement within our department and across Wake.
What do you like best about working at Wake?
The community at Wake Forest has been supportive and welcoming. Wake affords me great work life balance and intellectual challenge. I enjoy living in Piedmont.
What’s your favorite place on campus?
Wait Chapel and I enjoy walking all the trails on campus.
What is your favorite Wake Forest tradition or activity?
Lovefeast.
How would you describe your music taste?
Sentimental and groovy.
What book, TV show, or podcast would you recommend to our readers?
Here are some of my recent favorites: The book Interior States by Meghan O’Gieblyn, the podcast The Experiment from WNYC Studios, and the TV Show Wildcard Kitchen (I am completely and unabashedly obsessed with the Food Network).
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Two things haven’t failed me yet: Go to bed early and have important conversations face to face
What is your hidden talent?
I am a second soprano!
What brings you joy?
Mornings, fresh air, walks in the woods, and poetry.
Do you or a colleague have an interesting hobby or achievement and would like to be featured in an upcoming 15 Questions? Email Elizabeth Dam-Regier (damregej@wfu.edu), Senior Director of Strategic Communications (F&A).
Categories: 15 Questions, Information Systems