Association for Mormon Letters
The Association for Mormon Letters (AML) is a nonprofit founded in 1976 to promote quality writing "by, for, and about Mormons."[1] The broadness of this definition of Mormon literature has led the AML to focus on a wide variety of work that has sometimes been neglected in the Mormon community.
The association holds an annual conference, usually held in Utah. Proceedings of the conferences were published until 2003. Since 1995 the AML sponsored AML-List, an e-mail list for the discussion of Mormon literature. List subscribers posted reviews of thousands of Mormon books, films, and other artistic works.[2][3] Besides the Annual, The AML also published the literary journal Irreantum from 1999 to 2013 and the literature blog Dawning of a Brighter Day since 2009.[4]
Awards
See full article: AML Awards
Since 1977, the AML has given awards to the best work "by, for, and about Mormons." They are juried awards. When the Whitney Awards were begun in 2008, with awards decided by a voting academy, many saw them as a populist reaction against the more academic AML Awards.[5][6]
The award categories vary from year to year depending on what the AML decides is worthy of honor.
Irreantum
Irreantum, AML's literary/critical journal, was founded by Christopher Bigelow and Benson Parkinson in 1998. Bigelow served as editor until 2004. Laraine Wilkins was editor from 2004 until her death in September 2006 from injuries sustained in an auto accident.[7] Valerie Holladay and Scott Hatch were co-editors from October 2006.[8] In April 2008 Holladay stepped down, and Angella Hallstrom replaced her as co-editor. In 2009 Hatch stepped down, and was replaced by Jack Harrell. In 2011 Hallstrom stepped down, and was replaced by Josh Allen. The journal ceased publication in 2013.[9]
AML presidents
There is a lot of uncertainty in the list, and in some cases it is unclear whether a person was made President or President-Elect on a certain year.
| Name | Term | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Maureen Ursenbach Beecher | 1976 | BYU English, retired 1997. |
| Eugene England | ?-? | BYU English. d. 2001 |
| Lavina Fielding Anderson | 1983 | Editor, author |
| Margaret R. Munk | ?-? | Poly Sci. d. 1986. |
| Edward A. Geary | ?-? | BYU English |
| Linda Brummett | ?-? | BYU bookstore |
| Candadai Seshachari | ?-? | Weber State English, d. 2015 |
| William A. Wilson | 1988- | BYU folklore. Retired 1996. |
| Levi Peterson | -1989- | Weber State English, retired |
| Edward L. Hart | prior to 1991 | BYU English. d. 2008 |
| Bruce Jorgensen | c. 1991 | BYU English |
| Richard Cracroft | c. 1993 | BYU English. d. 2012 |
| Ann Edwards Cannon | year-1993 | Author, columnist |
| Susan Elizabeth Howe | c. 1996 | BYU English |
| Robert M. Hogge | c. 1997 | Weber State English |
| MaryJan Munger | c. 1998 | BYU Studies |
| Neal W. Kramer[10] | c. 1999 | BYU, BYU Studies |
| John Bennion | 1999-2000 | BYU English |
| Marilyn Brown | 2000-2001 | Author |
| Cherry Silver | 2001–2002 | Author, historian |
| Neila Sechachari | 2002 | Weber State English. President-elect; died before taking office |
| Gideon Burton | 2002–2004 | BYU English |
| Melissa Proffitt | 2004-2005 | |
| Kathleen Dalton-Woodbury | 2005-2006 | (Acting President) |
| Linda Hunter Adams | 2006-2007 | BYU Humanities, editor |
| Eric Samuelsen | 2007–2009 | BYU Theater |
| Boyd J. Peterson | 2009-2010 | UVU Mormon Studies |
| Margaret Blair Young | 2010–2013 | BYU English |
| Glenn Gordon and Kathy Gordon | 2013–2014 | co-presidents, Musician, Covenant editor |
| Joe Plicka | 2014– | BYU Hawaii |
References
- ↑ Henderson, Gae Lyn, "Passionate about Mormon Fiction, Drama, and Film? Discover the Association for Mormon Letters", MormonLetters.org (Association for Mormon Letters)
- ↑ "Review Archive", MormonLetters.org (Association for Mormon Letters)
- ↑ "AML Discussion Board", MormonLetters.org (Association for Mormon Letters)
|contribution=ignored (help) - ↑ "Dawning of a Brighter Day", MormonLetters.org (blog) (Association for Mormon Letters)
- ↑ Morris, William (August 21, 2007), "Diversity or dilution? The Whitneys and BYU Studies Review", MotleyVision.org (A Motley Vision)
- ↑ Morris, William (October 21, 2008), "LDS fiction; Mormon fiction (part two)", MotleyVision.org (A Motley Vision)
- ↑ Morris, William (September 3, 2006), "In memoriam: Laraine Wilkins", MotleyVision.org (A Motley Vision)
- ↑ Morris, William (October 13, 2006), "The AML announces new Irreantum editors", MotleyVision.org (A Motley Vision)
- ↑ Morris, William (November 25, 2013), "Replacing Irreantum: Scope/Positioning", MotleyVision.org (A Motley Vision)
- ↑ http://nealandleila.blogspot.com/2008_07_01_archive.html