The Association for Mormon Letters (AML) is a nonprofit founded in 1976 to promote quality writing "by, for, and about Mormons." 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's focus has since shifted on promoting the "production and study of Mormon literature."
Contents
The association holds an annual conference, usually held in Utah. Proceedings of the conferences were published until 2003. From 1995 to 2008 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, which are archived in the association's review database. 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.
Founding
Lavina Fielding Anderson described the founding of the organization in this way. "[The] Association for Mormon letters [was] founded with the specific purpose of fostering literary criticism. Its genesis lay in a meeting which Maureen Ursenbach Beecher called among a group of friends in the fall of 1976 to discuss the quality and availability of Mormon personal narratives . . . Eugene England and I were among the eight or ten people who came. Gene tossed out the question, “How could we go about organizing a group focused on the criticism of Mormon literature?” . . . We dutifully shifted, on the spot, from academics to activity. Maureen chaired [the] steering committee, formally organized the Association for Mormon letters, and persuaded us that the name should be “for Mormon letters,” not “of Mormon letters.” She also served as its first president, with Gene and I among her successors."
The inaugural symposium of the Association for Mormon Letters held in 1976 featured papers by Richard Cracroft, Leonard J. Arrington, Bruce Jorgensen and Arthur Henry King.
The early leadership of the organization participated in editing three anthologies, each published by Signature Books: Harvest: Contemporary Mormon Poems, edited by Eugene England and Dennis Clark (1989), the short story collection Bright Angels and Familiars: Contemporary Mormon Stories, edited by Eugene England (1992), and the literary criticism collection Tending the Garden: Essays on Mormon Literature, edited by Eugene England and Lavina Fielding Anderson (1996).
Awards
Since 1977, the AML has given awards to the best work "by, for, and about Mormons." They are juried awards. In 1998, it gave an award for best unpublished novel, an award that has since changed into the Marilyn Brown Novel Award.
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. Parkinson stepped down soon thereafter, and 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. Valerie Holladay and Scott Hatch were co-editors from October 2006. 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. Many of the back issues are available at Dawning of a Brighter Day.
AML presidents
There is a lot of uncertainty in the list, including in its order. In some cases it is unclear whether a person was made President or President-Elect on a certain year.