/ History/ Reiko Hillyer, 2025 Oregon Book Award Finalist

main content Reiko Hillyer, 2025 Oregon Book Award Finalist

Congratulations to Reiko Hillyer whose book A WALL IS JUST A WALL: THE PERMEABILITY OF THE PRISON IN THE TWENTIETH-CENTURY UNITED STATES (Duke University Press, 2024) is a finalist for the 2025 Oregon Book Awards in the category of General Nonfiction.

January 28, 2025

A WALL IS JUST A WALL nominated for the Frances Fuller Victor Award for General Nonfiction

Reiko Hillyer is an Associate Professor of History and Department Chair. In A WALL IS JUST A WALL, she explores the decline of clemency, conjugal visits, and furloughs within the U.S. carceral system over the past hundred years, demonstrating how the current impermeability of imprisonment is a recent and contested phenomenon and how bipartisan calls for permanent exile have increased despite historical precedents.

Winners of each category will be announced live at the 2025 Oregon Book Awards Ceremony at Portland Center Stage at The Armory on Monday, April 28, 2025.

Marlena Williams (BA’14), 2025 Oregon Book Award Finalist

Congratulations to Marlena Williams (BA’14) whose book NIGHT MOTHER: A PERSONAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY OF THE EXORCIST (Mad Creek Books/ Ohio State University Press, 2023) is a finalist for the 2025 Oregon Book Awards in the category of Creative Nonfiction.

2024-2025 Visiting Writers Series Announced

Please save the dates, spread the word, and join the LC English Department in welcoming these five fine writers to our 2024-25 Visiting Writing Series. Bios and links to more author information below.

All five events will be held in Albany Quadrangle, Smith Hall at 6pm.

Faculty book release: “A Wall Is Just A Wall: The Permeability of the Prison in 20th Century America” by Reiko Hillyer

Please join us in congratulating Associate Professor of History and Department Chair Reiko Hillyer on the upcoming publication of her latest book, A Wall is Just a Wall: The Permeability of the Prison in 20th Century America (Duke University Press, February 16, 2024). Influenced by her work teaching in the Inside-Out program, Hillyer traces the decline of practices that used to connect incarcerated people more regularly to the free world.

Rankings

Niche Names L&C One of Oregon’s ‘Best Liberal Arts Colleges’

According to the 2025 Niche college rankings, Lewis & Clark is one of the best liberal arts colleges in Oregon as well as one of the state’s top performers in academics, student life, English, and history.