Margaret Blair Young

Margaret Blair Young (born 1955) is an American author, filmmaker, and writing instructor who taught for thirty years at Brigham Young University.

Biography

Young is married to English professor Bruce Wilson Young (1950- ). Bruce is a BYU, Columbia and Harvard graduate who has written multiple essays and the book Family Life in the Age of Shakespeare.[1][2][3] They are the parents of four children, including vocal performer and music instructor Kaila Lifferth and writer Robbie Blair.

Her published work includes the novels House Without Walls (1991), Salvador (1992), and Heresies of Nature (2002) and the short story collections Elegies and Love Songs (1992) (which won an Association of Mormon Letters award) and Love Chains (1997).[4] She also co-authored a trilogy of historical novels about Black Mormon pioneers titled Standing on the Promises with Darius Gray. The trilogy, published between 2000 and 2003, was republished in revised and expanded form in 2012 and 2013.[5][6][7]

Young scripted and helped direct a 2005 television documentary based on the life of Jane Elizabeth Manning James, "Jane Manning James: Your Sister in the Gospel." The 20-minute documentary has been shown at This Is The Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City, Utah, the 2005 annual conference of the Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR), and on public television (PBS). Documentary filmmaker Scott Freebairn produced and directed the film. More recently, Young served as the project director for the Utah chapter of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society's film The Wisdom of our Years. In 2008, Young and Gray completed a long documentary titled Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons, which has been shown on PBS stations, in film festivals, and on the Documentary Channel. Her award-winning play, I Am Jane, also about Black Mormon pioneer Jane Manning James, has been produced throughout the country. Young has also authored encyclopedia articles on Blacks in the western United States, and has served as president of the Association for Mormon Letters.

She is currently at work on a feature film titled Heart of Africa for which she wrote the screenplay.[8][9] The film’s director is Sterling Van Wagenen, co-founder of the Sundance Film Festival.

Young received a bachelor's degree in 1979 and a master's degree in 1988 from Brigham Young University.

See also

References

  1. ↑ [ Bruce Young
  2. ↑ "Bruce Wilson Young Author Page". Amazon. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  3. ↑ BYU page for Bruce W. Young
  4. ↑ "Marrgaret Blair Young Author Page". Amazon. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  5. ↑ Young, Margaret Blair (2012). 978-0-9843603-8-3.htm One More River to Cross (Revised & Expanded ed.). Zarahemla Books. ISBN 978-0-9843603-8-3. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  6. ↑ Young, Margaret Blair (2013). Bound for Canaan (Revised & Expanded ed.). Zarahemla Books. ISBN 978-0-9843603-9-0. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  7. ↑ Young, Margaret Blair (2013). The Last Mile of the Way (Revised & Expanded ed.). Zarahemla Books. ISBN 978-0-9883233-0-8. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  8. ↑ "Heart of Africa". Kickstarter. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  9. ↑ Downing, Lisa Torcasso. "Mormon Woman, Artist, Filmmaker on Heart of Africa". Life Outside The Book of Mormon Belt. Retrieved 22 February 2015.

Sources