We are pleased to announce the 2024 Association for Mormon Letters Awards finalists in Criticism, Drama, Film, Creative Nonfiction (book length), Creative Nonfiction (essay), and Religious Nonfiction. The final awards will be announced and presented on May 30, as part of the 2025 Association for Mormon Letters/Mormon Scholars in the Humanities Conference, held at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah. The finalists and winners are chosen by juries of authors, academics, and critics. The announcements include blurbs and creator biographies, usually adapted from the author and publisher websites.
Criticism
Lee Allred. “No Truth in Beauty? Harriet Stark and The Bacillus of Beauty” In The Bacillus of Beauty.
An introductory essay in a republication of The Bacillus of Beauty, a science fiction novel by the LDS author Harriet Stark, originally published in 1900. Edited by Joe Monson and published Hemelein Publications.
Lee Allred‘s fiction has appeared in DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Image Comics, ASIMOV’S, and numerous short fiction anthologies. Many of his stories were collected in the volume Down the Arches of the Years (Hemelein, 2022).
Michael Austin. The Testimony of Two Nations: How the Book of Mormon Reads, and Rereads, the Bible. University of Illinois Press
Like the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible, the Book of Mormon uses narratives to develop ideas and present instruction. Michael Austin reveals how the Book of Mormon connects itself to narratives in the Christian Bible with many of the same tools that the New Testament used to connect itself to the Hebrew Bible to create the Christian Bible. This canonical context provides an important and fruitful method for interpreting the Book of Mormon.
Michael Austin is the Provost of Snow College. His eight books include Vardis Fisher, winner of the Association for Mormon Letters Award for Best Criticism. He is also a recipient of two AML Religious Nonfiction awards, and the Association of Mormon Letters Lifetime Achievement Award.
Amanda Beardsley and Mason Allred, editors. Latter-day Saint Art: A Critical Reader. Oxford University Press
In its nearly two centuries of existence, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has produced, inspired, and provoked a wide range of artistic responses. Yet that artistic output has not generated a commensurate amount of critical examination. This book seeks to fill a substantial gap by providing a comprehensive examination of the visual art of the Latter-day Saints from the nineteenth century to the present. It defines Mormon art broadly as art by, for, or about Mormons. The volume includes twenty-two essays by scholars from various disciplines, perspectives, and backgrounds who offer rigorous research and analysis of Latter-day Saint artistic production and culture alongside elegant reproductions of more than 200 works of Mormon art, including panorama paintings, quilts, architecture, sculpture, and cartoons, to film, gallery installations, indigenous works and more.
Amanda Beardsley received her PhD in Art History at Binghamton University. She is the Cayleff and Sakai Faculty Scholar in Women’s Studies at San Diego State University. Mason Allred received a PhD in German Literature and Culture from the University of California, Berkeley, and is assistant professor of communication, media, and culture at Brigham Young University-Hawaii. He is the author of Seeing Things: Technologies of Vision and the Making of Mormonism (AML Criticism Award, 2023).
Colleen McDannell. “Contemporary Temple Art and Landscapes of the Sacred.” Mormon Studies Review (2024) Vol. 11: 28-40.
McDannel discusses the history and practices behind art placed in Latter-Day Sait temples and the emphasis on natural landscapes in this art, unique in Christian art history. From the 1980s until recently, Latter-day Saint temples have been built and decorated with little care taken as to how the visual arts might heighten the temple experience. What altered this disinterest toward temple art was the realignment of temple attendance within the devotional lives of Latter-day Saints in the early 21st century.
Coleen McDonnell is a professor of history at the University of Utah. She received a PhD in Religious Studies from Temple University. She studies American religious history and culture.
Drama
(This award considers theatrical works first performed or published in 2024)
Ben Abbott. Buddies: A Bromantic Comedy. Santa Maria Civic Theatre, Santa Maria, California, November 2024. SkyPilot Theatre Company, Los Angeles, April-May 2025.
David doesn’t have friends so much as he has an obligation to hang out with his wife’s friends’ husbands. When his sister-in-law brings over her new boyfriend Adam, the two men realize they’re friendship soul mates. As they try to figure out how to make a new friend at this stage of life, they realize they have no idea what they’re doing. They must embark of a journey of self discovery just to try to figure out what grown men even do with each other.
Ben Abbott attended the Acting Conservatory at the Pacific Conservatory Theatre in Santa Maria, California and earned a B.A. in Theatre and Performance Studies from U.C. Berkeley. He has worked as an actor for nearly 20 years at theatres including Utah Shakespeare Festival, Pioneer Theatre, Hale Centre Theatre, and The Great American Melodrama. He is currently pursuing an M.F.A. in Playwriting at Hollins University in Virginia.
J. Scott Bronson. Mothers of Zion. Published in Sing of Greater Things: A Messiah Trilogy (BCC Press).
Two one-act plays. “Dressing Wounds”: Abandoned by his religiously strict family, the body of a young gay man lies waiting for someone from the church to come dress him for burial. When she arrives, the church lady finds the man’s sister, timid and terrified – of not only her mother’s wrath, but the things she might learn in her search for understanding. “Blesséd Wombs”: Miraculously pregnant, the anointed mothers of John the Baptist and Jesus the Christ sit down for a little chat to discuss what it will take to be the custodians of a hermitic zealot and divine savior.
J. Scott Bronson is a playwright, actor, and stage director. He studied theater at San Diego Mesa Jr. College and Brigham Young University. His plays Confessions (1994) and Altars (1994) won first place in the Sunstone Mormon One-Act Playwriting Contest. He received the 2001 AML Drama Award for his two one-act plays presented as Stones, which are also found in Sing of Greater Things. He was artistic director of the Little Theater at the Covey Center of Arts in Provo, Utah, and he has acted in many stage, television, and film productions.
Mahonri Stewart. Secrets of Sleepy Hollow. The Hive Collaborative, Provo, Utah, November 2024. Also independently published.
Mahonri Stewart’s adaptation of the classic story of Ichabod Crane is haunted not only by the iconic Headless Horseman, but many other specters from early American folklore. This interweaving of ghost stories, plus many original characters adds twists and thrills to the story that will keep even those familiar with the tale on the edge of their seats. First performed nearly 20 years ago, it has been substantially revised and made available as a publication.
Kim Abunuwara, director and compiler. In Good Faith. Utah Valley University Noorda Theatre, March 2024.
In Good Faith is an original work that explores the complicated relationship many people have with religion, family, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Abunuwara and her students collected first-hand accounts from member and former members about how they are meeting this new challenge and how they talk with their families about their faith disagreements.
Kim Abunuwara is an Associate Professor of Integrated Studies and Director of the Humanities Program at Utah Valley University. Dr. Abunuwara was awarded Instructor of the Year (April 2010) by Trio Student Support Services at UVU. She received a PhD in Theatre and Film from Brigham Young University.
Film
The Angel. Barrett Burgin and Jessica Burgin, directors. Dramatic short (19 minutes).
A Mormon Pioneer folk horror. Two plural wives receive a mysterious visitation amidst the blood red stone of Southern Utah. The film mines the mystic folk doctrines of the Mormon settlers to portray a demonology never before depicted on screen.
Barrett Burgin is a graduate of Brigham Young University and a filmmaker, best known for The Next Door (2016, AML Film Award finalist), Out of the Ground (2017, AML Film Award finalist), Father of Man (2019, AML Film Award), and the science-fiction mystery Cryo (2022). He has written extensively about the intersections between video games, ritual, new media, cinema, the afterlife, immortality, and technology.
Jessica Burgin has worked as a producer with major film and ad brands such as 5&2 Studios, BYUtv, LG, and Saprea. Most recently, she was the production coordinator on Artifact War, which will premiere at the Austin Film Festival.
Faith of Angels. Garrett Batty, director. Feature film.
A stranger receives mysterious promptings compelling him to search for a boy lost in an abandoned mine. Based on a true story of events near Tooele, Utah in September 1989. Stars J. Michael Finley, Cameron Arnett and Kirby Heyborne.
Garrett Batty graduated from the BYU film program. He has written and directed the films Scout Camp (2009), The Saratov Approach (2013, AML Award winner), Freetown (2015, AML Award finalist), Out of Liberty (2019, AML Award finalist), The Carpenter (2024), and the documentary The Journey Home (2016).
Escape from Germany. T. C. Christensen, director. Feature film.
The true story of the miraculous evacuation of eighty-five American LDS missionaries from Germany in August 1939, as World War II was beginning. Taken from the personal diaries of those missionaries, this riveting story is a testimony that God truly leads and protects His servants, opens doors, and provides timely inspiration.
T.C. Christensen is an cinematographer, film director, and writer best known for his work on IMAX films and true, historical movies including Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration, 17 Miracles, Ephraim’s Rescue, The Fighting Preacher and The Cokeville Miracle.
Creative Nonfiction (book length)
Nathan Kitchen. The Boughs of Love. BCC Press
“Nathan deftly braids together his experience as a gay LDS man, the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with regards to gender and sexual minorities, and his time as the President of Affirmation. His stories, poetry, and reflections provide an important glimpse into the lives of individuals and families navigating the intersection of their LDS faith and their queer realities. Nathan shares his testimony and anguish as he experienced harmful LDS policies while also leading an organization of people directly affected by those policies. Remarkably, Nathan’s joy as a father, husband, and person constructing a life of authenticity also shines through the pages and rings of hope and possibility.” –Roni Jo Draper.
Nathan Kitchen served as president of Affirmation: LGBTQ Mormons, Families & Friends from 2019 through 2022. He is currently the chair of the board of directors for Flourish Therapy, a leading nonprofit that provides culturally competent and affordable care for LGBTQIA+ individuals, families, and friends. Nathan graduated from BYU–Provo, earned his Doctor of Dental Medicine from Southern Illinois University, and completed a general practice residency at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. He is currently in private practice in Mesa, Arizona.
Katie Ludlow Rich and Heather Sundahl, editors. Fifty Years of Exponent II. Signature Books
On a sweltering day in June 1974, a group of housewives, graduate students, and young professionals gathered in the Boston suburbs. Their mission: to produce the first issue of Exponent II, a “humble yet sincere” newspaper “poised on the dual platforms of Mormonism and Feminism.” They viewed their work as an act of devotion, not rebellion. It provided a vital space for them to question and integrate different aspects of their dual—and sometimes dueling—identities. This comprehensive history and anthology of essays celebrates five decades of Exponent II.
Katie Ludlow Rich is a writer and independent scholar of Mormon women’s history. She has a bachelor’s in history and a master’s in English, both from Brigham Young University. Her writing has appeared in Exponent II, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Journal of Mormon History, and the Salt Lake Tribune.
Heather Sundahl has volunteered with Exponent II for twenty-eight years. As a writer and editor, Heather works to amplify the voices of marginalized folks and has collected the oral histories of Batswana, South African, Native American, and queer Mormon women. She received an MA in English from BYU in 1994 and an MA in Marriage & Family Therapy from UVU in 2023. Heather currently works at a residential treatment center where she helps her teenage clients find narratives that promote growth and healing.
Kerry Spencer Pray, editor. The Book of Queer Mormon Joy. Signature Books
The story of queer Mormons is one that some might not expect to be joyful. But queer Mormons tell different stories—stories filled with joy. This collection includes essays by queer Mormons across the LGBTQ spectrum who, when they looked inside themselves, found divinity rather than sin. Stories by people who are made exactly as they are meant to be, and live accordingly. Queer Mormons who feel forced out of the institutional church don’t typically find despair on the outside or abandonment by the divine. Instead, their lives are rich and beautiful—made all the more so by the struggle. The Book of Queer Mormon Joy affirms that trans, nonbinary, intersex, asexual, bisexual, polyamorous, and gay people have joy. Joy is for everyone.
Kerry Spencer Pray teaches writing at Stevenson University. She got her PhD from the University of Wales, taught writing at Brigham Young University for fourteen years, and spent nearly twenty years in a mixed-orientation marriage. She lives with and coparents children with her wife and gay ex-husband.
Creative Nonfiction (essay)
Melissa Inouye. “A Church That is Real“. Wayfare
Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye (1979–2024) was a historian specializing in modern Chinese history, Christianity in China, women and religion, and the history of global Christianity. She was the author of memoir, Crossings: a bald Asian American Latter-day Saint woman scholar’s ventures through life, death, cancer, and motherhood (not necessarily in that order) (2019).
W. Paul Reeve. “Washing the Clay from my Eyes“. Wayfare
W. Paul Reeve’s book, Religion of a Different Color (2015) received three best book awards. He is author of Let’s Talk About Race and Priesthood, published by Deseret Book in 2023, with a foreword by Darius Gray.
Joanna Harmon. “The Faith of a Stiff-Necked Woman“. Wayfare
Joanna Harmon divides her time dabbling in many creative pursuits, including writing, making music and art, and gardening. She works as a mental health therapist and lives in Provo, Utah with her husband, three kids, and dog.
Dani Westwind Blatter Macarthur. “Born Again: Transgender Insights on Spiritual Rebirth“. Exponent II
Dani Blatter teaches earth science at a community college in the San Francisco Bay Area and enjoys playing Dungeons and Dragons in her spare time.
Religious Nonfiction
(Nonfiction books on religious topics, not including works that are primarily history.)
Mason Kamala Allred. Seeing: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants. Maxwell Institute
In this introduction to the Doctrine and Covenants, Allred focuses our vision on practices and principles of seeing. He looks at how looking itself is a unique devotional mode in Latter-day Saint belief. His reading of the Doctrine and Covenants collects theological statements about and experiences of spiritual vision and emphasizes how they are often activated through natural vision and earthly commitment in ways that illuminate how to navigate our modern circumstances. By looking for truth with our whole bodies, we can be better equipped to develop spiritually in our media saturated world. As the early Church members did then, we can today avoid deception and gain revelation. Enhancing our vision through learning to not only look at but truly see nature, others, our covenants, and even the Lord, we can get our eye single to the glory of God and see things as they really are.
Mason Allred received a PhD in German Literature and Culture from the University of California, Berkeley, and is assistant professor of communication, media, and culture at Brigham Young University-Hawaii. He is the author of Seeing Things: Technologies of Vision and the Making of Mormonism (AML Criticism Award, 2023)
Deidre Nicole Green and Eric D. Huntsman, editors. Latter-day Perspectives on the Atonement. University of Illinois Press
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other Christians have always shared a fundamental belief in the connection between personal salvation and the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. While having faith in and experiencing the atonement of Christ remains a core tenet for Latter-day Saints, some thinkers have in recent decades reconsidered traditional understandings of atonement. Green and Huntsman edit a collection that brings together multiple and diverse approaches to thinking about Latter-day Saint views on this foundational area of theology.
Deidre Nicole Green is an assistant professor of Latter-day Saint/Mormon studies at the Graduate Theological Union. She is the author of Works of Love in a World of Violence: Kierkegaard, Feminism, and the Limits of Self-Sacrifice. Eric D. Huntsman is a professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University. His many books include Becoming the Beloved Disciple: Coming unto Christ through the Gospel of John.
Adam S. Miller. The Christ Child. Deseret Book
Scripture tells us we must become “as little children” to enter into the kingdom of heaven. If the Son of God himself became a child, and if our own salvation also depends on becoming like a child, then what do babies and children reveal about God’s nature—and our own? The Christ Child is a Christmas meditation that examines the scriptural accounts of Jesus’s birth, the characteristics of children, and invites us to consider how we can become more like them during the holiday season and throughout the year.
Adam S. Miller is a professor of philosophy at Collin College in McKinney, Texas. He earned a PhD in Philosophy from Villanova University. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including An Early Resurrection: Life in Christ Before you Die (AML Religious Nonfiction award, 2018), and serves as the current director of the Latter-day Saint Theology Seminar.
Nate Oman. Law and the Restoration: Law and Latter-day Saint Thought and Scripture. Greg Kofford Books
A comprehensive exploration of the intricate relationship between legal principles and the doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Oman delves into the profound ways in which Mormon theology intersects with legal concepts, offering readers a detailed analysis of church doctrines, their authority, and their implications for members’ daily lives. In doing so, Oman addresses foundational questions about the nature of church authority, the role of personal judgment, and the dynamic interplay between divine law and secular legal systems. The book is not just an academic treatise but a thoughtful discourse aimed at elucidating how Mormons navigate complex moral and legal landscapes in their quest to reconcile faith with modern societal norms.
Nathan B. Oman is the Rita Anne Rollins Professor at William & Mary Law School. Prior to becoming a professor, Oman practiced law in Washington DC, clerked for a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals, and worked as a staffer in the US Senate. He has been a visiting professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Cornell Law School, and the University of Richmond Law School.
Taylor G. Petrey. Queering Kinship in the Mormon Cosmos. University of North Carolina Press
Exploring the intersections of gender, sexuality, and kinship within the context of Latter-day Saint theology and history, this book contains elements that can be reinterpreted through a queer lens. Taylor Petrey reexamines and resignifies Mormon cosmology in the context of queer theory, offering a fresh perspective on divine relationships, gender fluidity, and the concept of kinship itself.
Taylor G. Petrey received a ThD from Harvard Divinity School, where he studied New Testament and Early Christianity. He is professor of religion at Kalamazoo College, and recently finished a six-year stint as editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. He is the author of Tabernacles of Clay: Sexuality and Gender in Modern Mormonism and co-editor of The Routledge Handbook of Mormonism and Gender.