Association for Mormon Letters names playwright Melissa Leilani Larson as president

The Board of the Association for Mormon Letters (AML) has elected award-winning playwright Melissa Leilani Larson as president for its 2021-22 term. 

Melissa Leilani Larson  is a mixed race Filipina American writer presently based in Salt Lake City. Her dramatic work has been seen on four continents. Mel’s newest play, Mestiza, or Mixed, was commissioned by Salt Lake’s Plan-B Theatre and will premiere in June 2022. 

Other recent productions of her work include Pride & Prejudice at the Creekside Theatre Fest this June and Little Happy Secrets at the Great Salt Lake Fringe and InHouse Theatre. Persuasion will be staged at Utah Valley University in February 2022. 

Other plays include Sweetheart Come, The Post Office, Mountain Law, Pilot Program, Lady In Waiting, The Edible Complex, Martyrs’ Crossing, and her new comedy, Gin Mummy

Film work includes the features Jane and Emma and Freetown and the upcoming short “Patience.” She was also a contributing writer for volumes 1 and 3 of the LDS Church’s narrative history SAINTS

Honors include: Eugene O’Neill semi-finalist; Mad Cow Theatre Women’s Voices New Play Festival runner-up; Trustus New Play Festival finalist; IRAM Best New Play; Mayhew Award; 2 SLC Weekly Arty Awards; 4 Association for Mormon Letters Drama Awards; and the 2018 AML Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters. 

Mel is a proud member of Plan-B Theatre’s Playwrights Lab; Honor Roll, andadvocacy group for femme playwrights over 40; the Playwrights Center of Minneapolis; and the Dramatists Guild of America, where she has served both as Ambassador and Regional Rep for Utah. She holds a BA in English from Brigham Young University and an MFA from the Iowa Playwrights Workshop.

James Goldberg, who served as AML president for the 2020-21 term, will move into a consulting role. William Morris has been elected as vice president/president elect for 2022-23. 

In addition, the AML thanks board members Jennifer Quist, Rachel Hunt Steenblik, and Elizabeth Beeton who completed their three-year term, and Scott Hales who has been serving as treasurer. 

Founded in 1976 the Association for Mormon Letters works to bring attention to, award, publish, and encourage scholarship on works by, for, and about Mormons from all traditions. Major activities include the online journal Irreantum and an annual conference, which will next be held July 21-23, 2022, online (with the potential for some in-person programming).  

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