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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.

Guest Editor Jeanna Mason Stay introduces this year’s fall contest:

 I am an unabashed lover of speculative fiction. For my entire reading life, fantasy has drawn me in, with both sweeping, heroic tales and small, quiet ones. For the past couple of years, I worked first as a slush reader and then as a board member for the speculative fiction publisher Deep Magic E-zine (which, to my great sadness, is closing). I love a story that says something meaningful about the human condition—especially if it’s got a bit of magic.

Authors who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are well-represented in fantasy and sci fi literature, but the majority of that representation is written for general, not Church-specific, audiences. Every year when the Lit Blitz comes around, I’m excited to read all of the pieces, but I have a special place in my heart for those that combine the Church and the speculative in fascinating ways.

I still regularly think about Stephen Carter’s eerie, thought-provoking piece “Slippery” (https://lit.mormonartist.net/2014/06/slippery/). Rereading Jonathan Penny’s zombie apocalypse tale, “A Voice Not Crying in the Wilderness,” last year felt particularly poignant in the midst of a pandemic (https://lit.mormonartist.net/2014/11/a-voice-not-crying-in-the-wilderness-by-jonathon-penny/). And Annaliese Lemmon’s “Disability, Death, or Other Circumstances” always catches me by surprise at how both funny and heartbreaking Kafka-esque rabbits can be (https://lit.mormonartist.net/2015/05/disability-death-or-other-circumstance-by-annaliese-lemmon/).

This year’s specialty contest is all about continuing to explore the constellation of doctrine, culture, and quirks that make up the LDS experience through the lenses (or perhaps spaceships) of speculative fiction.

What We’re Looking For:

Stories that draw the fantastical and the Church together in interesting ways—ways that will resonate, entertain, or challenge, ways that are thoughtful, fun, and everything in between.

Like all Mormon Lit Blitz contests, a primary ingredient is that these stories must in some way resonate with who we are as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The theme for this contest suggests magic or spaceships are required, but any fantasy/sci fi content is welcome. Hagoth and the kraken attack? Sure. The next-door neighbor who ministers by bringing over magical potions along with cookies? Yep.

What We’re NOT Looking For:

• Alternate history, unless it also includes fantasy/sci fi elements. For example, an alternate world where John Taylor is the second prophet of this dispensation isn’t enough, unless it’s because his fellow apostles were eaten by dragons.
• Stories that are hostile, denigrate the gospel, or have a “flying spaghetti monster” feel/theme. However, stories that challenge how we look at the world or ask questions are welcome.
• Stories in restricted intellectual property (e.g., no Disney, no Star Wars, etc.).
• Stories where there is no interplay between the story and LDS topics/themes—for example, a story where the main character just happens to be LDS but that doesn’t affect the plot or character arc at all.

The Details:

Word Count: Up to 1500 words

Deadline: 10 September 2021, end of day (your time zone is fine)

Prizes:

• $100 first place
• Additional prizes may be added
• Finalists will be published online. After all pieces have been published, first place will be decided by audience vote.

Format:

• No use of author name on the document itself.
• Preferably a Word document.
• Spacing and font: preferred Garamond or Times, 12pt, 1.5-inch spacing, but anything reasonably readable will be accepted.
• Include the story title in the filename.
• Send up to three entries to everydaymormonwriter@gmail.com, with files attached. Include the author’s contact info in the body of the email BUT NOT in the attached stories.

Feel free to email any questions to everydaymormonwriter@gmail.com.

Fine Print: 

By submitting your work, you grant us non-exclusive rights to publish your story on the web and in the planned Mormon Lit Blitz 2017-2021 anthology. For the anthology, authors will receive a copy, and additional proceeds go to support Mormon literature (including future contests). Previously published stories are acceptable so long as the author retains publication rights. Collaborations are acceptable and count toward all collaborating authors’ three permitted submissions.

"We Must Overcome"

our ignorance of otherness;
our cocksure, credulous belief
that what we know is true,
though what we know is marginal
and stranger to the truth;
our inbred heritage of hate;
our ingrown condescension of
a pale, performing love;
                         our
privilege, that makes us weak
and willing masters of the world,
and which we grip both-handed
while we censure or deny it with
a cock-crow vehemence and
without shame;
              our blame;
                        our
parrying of blame;
                  our sheep
and common shame;
                 our
tendency to shun the same;
our difference, left lovely on
display but given no more heft
than iris-colour or a taste for
salt or other spice;
                     our Christ-
kill terror of our sibling souls.

We must overcome (we must!)
the farthing fear in all of us.

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!

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. 

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

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.

This summer, we published English translations alongside original Spanish texts for the top three stories in the Palabras de Mormón contest, which we co-sponsored with the Cofradía de Letras Mormonas. All the winners, including several unpublished honorable mentions, were just released in the beautifully designed fall issue of El Pregonero de Deseret.  Take a look!