Submissions are currently open for the 11th annual Mormon Lit Blitz. We’re also preparing, though for another Around the World in Mormon Literature contest this fall, based on the multi-language contest we held in 2019. That contest was a pioneering effort in bringing together Latter-day Saint creative writers working in different languages: the twelve finalists included stories in Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Estonian, Tagalog, and English.
We love hearing from Latter-day Saints in their own languages. Sharing stories helps us feel closer to our brothers and sisters around the world. We need help, though, to work across languages! In 2019, a team of volunteers gave their time to help translate the call for submissions, spread the word about the contest, read submissions, and translate winning stories into English.
Are you excited about Mormon literature? Do you speak English and another language, or have social connections outside the United States? If so, we hope you’ll consider volunteering to help us with our 2022 contest.
Fill out this survey to let us know how you’d like to help.
Category: Uncategorized
Mormon Lit Blitz Voting Instructions
It’s that time of year again–just a week left to choose the winner of the Mormon Lit Blitz!
Voting Instructions
As per tradition, the audience chooses our annual Mormon Lit Blitz winner. To vote, look through the pieces and choose your favorite four. Then cast your vote here.
The finalists are:
“116 Pages” by Merrijane Rice
“Unfit Mother of the Year” by Susan Law Corpany
“Final Exam” by Jared Forsyth
“Reformed Egyptian” by Lee Allred
“Oh, a Dove” by Aiko Tokuzawa
“We Must Overcome” by Jonathon Penny
“The Lord’s Multiform Prayer” by Gabriel González Núñez
“Not of Necessity” by Jeanine Bee
“Golden Plate Controversy Erupts with ‘Mormon Storm’” by Devin Galloway
“Weight of Souls” by Selina Forsyth
“Sacrament in Solitude” by Marianne Hales Harding
“Perspective” by Jonathon Penny
Voting is open from Monday, June 14th until the end of the day on Saturday, June 19th. The winner of the $100 Grand Prize will be announced on Monday, June 21st.
We’ll also select one voter at random to win a copy of our anthology, Mormon Lit Blitz: The First Five Years.
Next Contest
This fall, past Mormon Lit Blitz finalist Jeanna Mason Stay will be guest-editing a special contest, “Saints, Spells, and Spaceships,” for speculative flash fiction with a compelling Mormon angle. See the complete rules here.
Book Mentoring Project
We love what people do with 1,000 words. If you enjoy the kind of literature you’ve read in the Mormon Lit Blitz, though, we hope you’ll also consider donating $5, $10, or $20 to support the eight authors currently in our book mentoring program.
Mormon Lit Lab: Book Mentoring Program
10th annual Mormon Lit Blitz Call for Submissions
Since 2012, the annual Mormon Lit Blitz contest has encouraged people to use Latter-day Saint ideas, values, beliefs, or imagery in very short stories, essays, poems, or other forms of writing. An anthology of contest finalists over the contest’s first five years is available here. We are now accepting submission for our tenth annual contest.
Submission details:
Submissions for the Tenth Annual Mormon Lit Blitz writing contest are due on 30 April 2021 to everydaymormonwriter@gmail.com. Submitted works may be in any genre so long as they are under 1,000 words and designed to resonate in some way with a Latter-day Saint audience. Previously published material and simultaneous submissions are acceptable. Up to three submissions are allowed per author.
Finalists will be posted on the Mormon Artist magazine website (lit.mormonartist.net) in June. At the conclusion of the Lit Blitz, readers will vote for their favorite pieces, and a $100 prize will be given to the audience choice winner. All finalists will later be published in a print anthology, and their authors will become eligible for our new book development program.
To facilitate the judging process, we prefer to receive submissions as .doc, .docx, or .pdf attachments with the author’s name and contact information in the body of the email but not included in the attached text. Please email submissions and any questions you may have to everydaymormonwriter@gmail.com.
As a writer, you retain the right to republish your piece in your own collections or other venues. By submitting, authors give us nonexclusive rights to publish their work electronically and in a future print anthology (with an anthology copy as payment). As stated above, previously published work is fine if you still have the rights to the piece and if it meets the above contest requirements.
Stay in touch:
For updates about the 2021 contest and other Mormon Lit Lab news, follow the Mormon Lit Blitz Facebook page or sign up for our email list.
If you would like to support our efforts to create space for Mormon literary work, please consider making a monthly donation pledge on our Patreon account.
Thank you for your interest in Mormon Literature!
Giving Birth to Books: A Call for Proposals
In Nauvoo, women like Ann Carling, Vienna Jacques, and Patty Bartlett Sessions were called to an important work: serving as midwives for the Latter-day Saints gathering from different backgrounds to build new communities and a new identity together. As the Saints crossed the Plains and settled in the West, midwives and others cared for the needs of Zion’s mothers and regularly met in council to discuss women’s and maternal health. Though many converts had left networks of family and community to settle among the Saints, pioneer women were not alone in the work of giving birth.
At the Mormon Lit Lab, we take inspiration from our forebears in the faith. Though a book hardly has the same value as a baby, we recognize that opportunities for support and counsel and ease any creative process. Over the past nine years, we’ve created opportunities for dozens writers to create short work that reflects their identity as Latter-day Saints or plays with Mormon themes and heritage in some way through the Mormon Lit Blitz contest. We’ve connected contest finalists with thousands of readers, who have seen new possibilities for Mormon literature in their work. At the release party for The Mormon Lit Blitz: The First Five Years, we made an announcement about a next step in our group’s work as literary midwives. We are launching a new program to support past Mormon Lit Blitz finalists who want to develop a book.
Our literary midwife program will consist of three main elements:
1. Each accepted writer will attend a group orientation and get a one-on-one follow up planning session with an experienced Mormon Lit Lab advisor, culminating in approval of a process and budget plan.
2. We will match writers with a sponsor or sponsors who provide a small budget, typically up to $1000, to cover costs associated with the book’s production and promotion. Grants will be dispersed in stages, according to the pre-approved plan.
3. We will hold a series of online council meetings to provide guidance on different elements of writing, publishing, and promotion. Attendance at each will be optional, based on writers’ plan and sense of their own needs.
Writers interested in publishing under the Mormon Lit Lab brand (along with our test crop of Grace Like Water, Song of Names, and the Mormon Lit Blitz anthology) will have that option at the end of the development process. Publishing with us is not, however, a requirement. Writers who are accepted into a given year’s development class retain all rights to their work and are free to submit their book to other publishers. Our interest is helping books come into being.
Through March 31, 2021, we will be accepting book proposals to be considered for inclusion in our inaugural development class. Only past finalists from a contest sponsored by the Mormon Lit Lab are eligible to apply. Book proposals should consist of brief responses to the following four prompts:
1. Tell us about the book you’d like to write.
2. What does this book offer to Latter-day Saint readers or others interested in Mormon ideas, imagery, and experience?
3. What parts of the writing, publication, or promotion process are you most interested in getting help with?
4. What is your anticipated timeline for completing the manuscript?
If they have already started a manuscript, writers may also attach a sample.
If you are interested in making a small contribution to support our general book development efforts, you can make a monthly contribution on our Patreon account or send a one-time donation by PayPal to everydaymormonwriter@gmail.com. If you are interested in making a larger contribution and would like the chance to be matched to a project you feel strongly about, please reach out to us via email or Facebook message.
Anthology Online Release Party
If you haven’t already seen, we wanted to share the good news. Our Kickstarter ended today, after funding early–and passing both of our stretch goals!
We plan to start shipping the books from the printer in the next couple days, to both contributors and Kickstarter backers. For those in the U.S., at least, books should arrive before Christmas. Fingers crossed for the rest…though it might be Three Kings’ Day.
In the meantime, we really wish there were a way for us to gather writers and readers together from the many cities, countries, and continents in which you live into one physical room to celebrate, but the constraints of space and a pandemic make that impossible.
A Zoom call is hardly the same, but we’d love to see your faces, hear a sample reading to represent each of the seven contests in the book, and take time for your questions and comments. We’ll be gathering virtually at 7 pm MST on Thursday, December 10. We’re asking people to RSVP: you can pick up the call link on the RSVP form. (The form even has a “maybe” button, so if you might be able to attend, still RSVP.)
Look forward to seeing some of you, sharing with you, and hopefully hearing a little about your favorite Lit Blitz pieces or memories!
-Nicole and James Goldberg, Mormon Lit Blitz editors
Anthology Kickstarter!
Yesterday, we launched a Kickstarter campaign for the anthology of finalists from the first five years of the Mormon Lit Blitz and related themed contests. Eric Jepson, who has work in the book, reminded me today to put up a post here. Between the time I started and the time I went to copy the link, the campaign reached its funding goal!
That means you can now pre-order a copy knowing we’ll be sending it out in early December. You can also help us reach our first stretch goal: funding enough to get started on a second anthology next year, covering 2017-2021.
Thank you to everyone who contributed. It means a lot to us to know these stories will be finding a good home on your shelves. We’ve loved all the work that’s come out of the contest and are glad to have it in print. These pieces stand the test of time.
Mormon Lit Blitz Pandemic Reading
Reading recommendations list selected by Mattathias Singh Goldberg Westwood
Meetinghouses and temples all around the world are closed. General conference next week will be attended in person only by the speakers for each given session. These are unusual times for worship around the world, as community leaders try to buy medical professionals some time to understand the novel coronavirus and prepare hospitals to meet needs as well as they can.
Even with meetings canceled, though, this is no time to go on spiritual cruise control. Strange times raise important questions. We may not be able to meet as wards, but we need chances for reflection and worship as much as ever.
At the Mormon Lit Blitz, we’ve been inviting writers to think about Mormon life and possible Mormon futures since 2012. Like the oil in the parable of the ten virgins, we’re finding that past years’ writing has prepared us to process our present situation.
Here are some pieces, organized by topic, you might find it useful to read over the next few weeks.
Imagining the Church Facing Times of Crisis
Several Mormon Lit Blitz finalists have imagined how the Church might face major crises.
In Jonathon Penny’s “A Voice Not Crying In the Wilderness,” a zombie outbreak makes worship more restrained and reflective:
https://lit.mormonartist.net/
Katherine Cowley’s “Waiting” explores what it means to have life go on when the world is going crazy:
https://lit.mormonartist.net/
https://lit.mormonartist.net/
Anneke Garcia’s “Oaxaca” asks us to imagine how outside stresses can be catalysts for reflection and growth:
Food
At a time when many of are eating our food storage, fasting for global solutions, or simply shopping for the next things to eat, here are two pieces about food:
Marilyn’s Nielson’s “In Bulk” takes on the shock of shopping for many in a culture where that’s no longer a norm:
https://lit.mormonartist.net/
https://lit.mormonartist.net/
Wm Morris’s “After the Fast” imagines what it might mean to break a fast after 40 days and nights:
After the Fast https://lit.mormonartist.net/
After the Fast https://lit.mormonartist.net/
Service and Stress
In times of crises, people are looking for ways to serve.
Lee Allred’s “Beneath the Visiting Moon” explores isolation and ministering:
https://lit.mormonartist.net/
Katherine Cowley’s “Paradisiacal Glory” imagines service during the Millennium:
https://lit.mormonartist.net/
Wm Morris’s “The Joys of Onsite Apartment Management” reflects on the mundane nature of most service–and the inspiration that comes with it:
https://lit.mormonartist.net/
https://lit.mormonartist.net/
Church and Temple
A time when temples and meetinghouses are closed might be the perfect time to reflect on what they mean to us.
Jonathon’s Penny’s “Yahweh: Prologue to the Temple” does the hard work of trying to capture what the temple does in language:
https://lit.mormonartist.net/
Laura Hilton Craner’s “The Primary Temple Trip” works both ward and temple into a single classic short short story:
https://lit.mormonartist.net/
Kelli Swofford Nielsen’s “The Back Row” points out what we might be missing when we lose the chance to sit in the back of the chapel:
https://lit.mormonartist.net/
https://lit.mormonartist.net/
Social Not-Distancing
Along the same lines, a period of social distancing might be a good time to think about what it’s like to be around a lot of people:
Cesar Medina Fortes “A Sunday at Laginha” reminisces about spending time with all the neighborhood kids:
Melody Burris’s “Something Practical” is a comic love letter to ward gatherings and their unexpected delights:
https://lit.mormonartist.net/
For those separated from close loved ones, Merrijane Rice’s “Mother” may feel timely:
Coping with Absurdity
As humans, we respond to the overall feeling of strangeness in a time of disruption as much as to any specific event or concern. We’re all trying to find ways to cope with the absurd.
Wm Morris’s “Last Tuesday” is about strange happenings:
https://lit.mormonartist.net/
Emily Harris Adams’ “Second Coming” deals with the space between hope and trouble:
https://lit.mormonartist.net/
And finally, Annalisa Lemmon’s “Death, Disability, or other Circumstance” is a story about dealing with disorienting change:
https://lit.mormonartist.net/2015/05/disability-death-or-other-circumstance-by-annaliese-lemmon/
Enjoy the reading! If you’re so inclined, join the legacy by submitting to this year’s Mormon Lit Blitz or by making a monthly donation pledge on our Patreon account.
Mormon Lit Lab Email List
For email updates on future contests, sign up for our email list:
Two Weeks Left to Submit!
Reminder:
Submissions for the Eighth Annual Mormon Lit Blitz Writing Contest are due by 31 May 2019 to everydaymormonwriter@gmail.com (*UPDATE* We’ve added a weekend grace period and will consider anything submitted by the end of the day on Monday, 3 June). Submitted works may be in any genre so long as they are under 1,000 words and designed to resonate in some way with an Latter-day Saint audience. Previously published material and simultaneous submissions are acceptable. Up to three submissions are allowed per author.
Finalists will be posted on the Mormon Artist magazine website (lit.mormonartist.net) starting in July. At the conclusion of the Lit Blitz, readers will vote for their favorite pieces, and a $100 prize will be given to the audience choice winner.
For updates about the 2019 contest, follow the Mormon Lit Blitz Facebook page.
To facilitate the judging process, we prefer to receive submissions as .doc, .docx, or .pdf attachments with the author’s name and contact information in the body of the email but not included in the attached text. Please email submissions and any questions you may have to everydaymormonwriter@gmail.com.
By submitting, authors give us the one-time rights to publish their work electronically. As stated above, previously published work is fine if you still have the rights to the piece and if it meets the above contest requirements.
Past Finalists:
Interested in this contest? Take a look at past years’ finalists to get a taste of what we’ve featured:
We look forward to reading your entries!