Waterston Desert Writing Prize
Advisory Committee
Ellen Waterston, Founder
An award-winning author and poet, Ellen Waterston founded the Waterston Desert Writing Prize in 2015. Prior to that she founded and, for 12 years directed, The Nature of Words, a literary nonprofit based in Bend, Oregon. She is at work on her third nonfiction book, based in Oregon’s high desert, and due out from University of Washington Press in 2020.
Jeff Tryens
Jeff moved to Sisters, Oregon following a career in public service both in the U.S. and abroad. He has written and edited numerous technical journals, newsletters and articles. As a newcomer to living in the desert, Jeff has come to love the landscape (except for the Junipers, of course) and the access to public land for riding his horse. Jeff serves on the board of the Sisters Park and Recreation District, the Sisters City Parks Advisory Board and fire department’s budget committee.
Louise Hawker
Louise Hawker is a public relations consultant, specializing in nonprofit communications. She also compiles life histories for clients.
Gail Hill
A journalist with 20 years as a reporter at the Oregonian in Portland, Oregon, Gail Hill continues to write creatively since retiring to Central Oregon.
Julia Kennedy Cochran
Julia Kennedy Cochran was a journalist at the New York Times before moving to Central Oregon with her husband, where they started raising sheep. She is a member of several boards of regional nonprofits. She authored a memoir about her father’s role as a journalist in WWII titled Ed Kennedy’s War: V-E Day, Censorship & the Associated Press.
Jim Cornelius
Born in the suburbs of Los Angeles, Jim Cornelius now resides on the High Desert of Central Oregon, where he is the news editor of the Nugget newspaper in Sisters, Oregon. A musician and songwriter, Jim co-founded the Sisters Folk Festival. He is the author of Warriors of the Wildlands and a contributor to Borderland Noir: Stories & Essays of Love & Death Across the Rio Grande.
Bart Eberwein
Bart Eberwein is executive vice-president of Hoffman Construction Company. He was vice-chair and commissioner of the Oregon Arts Commission and commissioner of the Oregon Land Conservation Development Commission. Barton has served on the boards of Literary Arts, Architecture Foundation of Oregon, United States National Forest Foundation and Cycle Oregon.
Ted Haynes
After a career in high tech, Ted Haynes has written five books set in Central Oregon — the history of a well-known local ranch, a collection of short stories and three murder mysteries. The most recent book, The Mt. Bachelor Murders, was published in 2021. Ted and his wife make a home on the Little Deschutes River. Ted is a member of the Deschutes County Historical Society and the Central Oregon Geoscience Society.
Les Joslin
Les Joslin is a retired U.S. Navy commander; former U.S. Forest Service firefighter, wilderness ranger, and staff officer; former Central Oregon Community College and Oregon State University adjunct instructor; and writer and editor. He has written a dozen books, most on aspects of forest history. His latest, Three Sisters Wilderness: A History, was published by The History Press in March 2021.
Dick Linford
Richard Linford founded Echo River Trips and guided groups on major rivers throughout the United States, as well as specialty trips in Turkey and Bhutan before retiring. His experiences are summarized in his memoir Halfway to Halfway. A sequel to this collection of adventures is currently in the works.