Mormon Lit Lab: Book Mentoring Program ShareTweetPin0shares Over the past 10 years, the Mormon Lit Blitz contest has published more than a hundred unique works of Mormon microliterature—short essays, stories, and poetry that stretch our sense of what literature can accomplish in a community of faith. We’re excited to take the next step. This year, we’re mentoring four prose writers and four poets as they develop books. We’ve already brought together a volunteer team of people with expertise in writing, editing, publishing, and advertising to provide monthly classes and personal consultations. We also aim to raise a $1,000 to $2,000 budget in support of each project. Even a small budget can help make someone’s dream project a reality. To help bring these new titles into the world, make a tax-deductible one-time or monthly donation to the Mormon Lit Lab today. Whether you are able to contribute $20 or $100, any and every contribution will make a real difference. If you would like to designate a specific project as the preferred beneficiary of your gift, you may do so. The writers and projects are: PROSE Luisa Perkins Mid-Century Murder is the first novel in a mystery series featuring Annette Van Doren, a 54-year-old recently widowed Latter-day Saint. Through Annette’s employment at a business specializing in historic real estate, each mystery will involve different houses and architectural styles. At the same time, the book will explore how a Mormon woman redefines herself after years when her energy was far more focused on family needs. Target draft completion date: Fall 2021 Luisa’s Mormon Lit Blitz pieces: Spring Hill Three Dogs in the Afterlife César Fortes César Fortes has been the most popular Portuguese-language writer in the Mormon Lit Blitz. He is working on a collection of autobiographical short stories featuring Mormon experience in his family and ward in Cape Verde. These slice-of-life stories, at turns humorous and poignant, give a strong sense of place and community while raising important spiritual and social questions. Target draft completion date: Fall 2021 César’s Mormon Lit Blitz pieces: My Vacation on the Island of Santo Antão Our Dog, Stromberg A Sunday at Laginha William Morris The Courtship of Elder Cannon is a short literary novel about a recently widowed member of the Seventy and a U of U literature professor who are set up on a blind date in 2009 in the wake of scrutiny over the Church’s involvement in California’s Proposition 8. Told through conversations, journal entries, talks, emails, scriptural commentaries, and so on, the novel explores how Mormon conceptions of grief, eternal marriage, and personal revelation impact Elder Cannon’s relationships with the woman he courts, his family, her family, and his identity as a husband, father, and church leader. Target draft completion date: Summer 2021 William’s Mormon Lit Blitz pieces: After the Fast The Elder Who Wouldn’t Stop The Joys of Onsite Apartment Building Management Last Tuesday Proof That Sister Greeley Is a Witch (Even Though Mormons Don’t Believe in Witches) The ReActivator Release There Wrestled a Man in Parowan Gabriel González El periplo de Melitón González Trejo [The Quest of Melitón González Trejo] is a historical novel steeped in magical realism. Based on the life of the primary translator of the Book of Mormon into Spanish, it recounts his travels from Spain to the Philippines to Utah to Mexico during the second half of the 19th century. As an immigrant and translator himself, the author will explore the sense of gain and loss that comes with immigration and crossing boundaries. Target draft completion date: Late 2023 Gabriel’s Mormon Lit Blitz pieces: Documentary Appendix 1 The God I Can Trust POETRY Marianne Hales Harding Halfway to Heaven: Poems Crafted in Utah’s Wild Places is a poetic trail guide. Written on hikes in Utah and linked to specific trails, the work lends itself to being read in the space where it was written. Framed by her grandfather’s work as a landscape photographer of Utah’s Grand Circle of National Parks, this book is a tribute to the land and an exploration of how the land has mixed into Mormon consciousness and seeped into our sense of self. Target draft completion date: Fall 2022 Marianne’s Mormon Lit Blitz pieces: Natural Coloring Platinum Tears Red Rock Walking Among the Legend People Jared Forsyth How does our view of God relate to our views of money? In a collection of poems about money and religion, Jared Forsyth explores individual attitudes and shared financial structures, looking at both our shortcomings and the possibilities we have to exercise discipleship in our own finances and in our society. Target draft completion date: Spring 2022 Jared’s Mormon Lit Blitz pieces: Airplanes that Crashed: A Book of Mormon Coloring Book Scott Hales Scott Hales’ Hemingway in Paradise and Other Mormon Poems is a poetry collection about lives and afterlives. Exhibiting the same wry humor and unique Mormon perspective that made his The Garden of Enid: Adventures of a Weird Mormon Girl a beloved webcomic, Hales invites readers to join him at the crossroads of fact and fantasy, memory and invention, and life and death. Hemingway in Paradise is a deep dive into a Latter-day Saint imagination, moving freely from playful engagements with Church history and doctrine to poignant meditations on the everyday incidents and occurrences of Mormon experience. Target draft completion date: Summer 2021 Scott’s Mormon Lit Blitz pieces: Child Star Brother and Sister The Hills of Heaven Living Scriptures Regimen Selina Forsyth Selina Forsyth is currently pursuing a PhD in social work. She’s interviewing Latter-day Saint social workers and writing a collection that mixes nonfiction with poetry to explore the principles in Matthew 25:31-46. What insights can social workers give us into Christ’s call to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the prisoner? Target draft completion date: End of 2022 Selina’s Mormon Lit Blitz pieces: Resurrection by Easter 2020 Please note that, while we want to help every project reach completion, the Mormon Lit Lab does not guarantee the success of proposed projects. Funds will be disbursed to writers for use on approved book-related expenses. In the event that a book project stops progressing, we reserve the right to shift its budget to support other projects. Donations are not refundable.
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