Signature Books Podcast: Recent Episodes
Signature Books
Signature Books, founded in 1981, publishes some of the best books in Mormon studies. We specialize in narrative and documentary history, biography, fiction, poetry, and Western Americana. Our books have received numerous honors over the years from the Mormon History Association, the John Whitmer Historical Association, the Utah State Historical Society, and the Evans Biography Award. This podcast will include interviews with Signature Books authors from both our new releases and some of the significant books from our backlist.
Author Brian Q. Cannon sits down with editorial manager John Hatch to discuss his new book, Building a Global Zion: The Life and Vision of David O. McKay. The interview offers an up-close look at how McKay’s compassion and love for others shaped his leadership and his global vision for building unity within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Brian Q. Cannon is the Lemuel Hardison Redd Jr. Professor of Western American History at BYU. He is the author of four books and coeditor of three, as well as more than forty articles and book chapters regarding rural history, Western American history, Latter-day Saint history, and social and cultural history.
Beloved and acclaimed author, poet, and playwright Carol Lynn Pearson talks about the diaries she has kept for some seventy years—and why she decided to publish them. Speaking with Signature Books director Barbara Jones Brown, Pearson shares her personal experiences from the 1950s to the 1980s that made her a feminist, activist, and LGBTQ ally.
Pearson describes herself as a troublemaker and a problem solver. A fourth-generation Latter-day Saint who grew up in Utah and now lives in California, she loves the church that taught her courage enough to challenge harmful concepts, even those of her own community. Her first collection of poems, Beginnings, sold more than 150,000 copies, followed by numerous books, lyrics, and stage plays. Her 1986 bestseller, Goodbye, I Love You, tells of her marriage to Gerald Pearson—a gay man—and their eventual divorce and her caring for him in her home as he died from AIDS. The profound impact of this story marked a turning point in the national perception of the gay community.
Join author Andrew Kimball and editorial manager John Hatch as they bring to life the dramatic and deeply human stories behind one of Mormonism’s most prominent families—the descendants of Heber C. Kimball. From Helen Mar Kimball Whitney’s heartbreaking losses, to J. Golden Kimball’s candid self-doubt beneath his famously irreverent wit, Andrew Kimball’s new book, The Blood in Their Veins: The Kimballs, Polygamy, and the Shaping of Mormonismreveals the complexity, faith, and fragility at the heart of Latter-day Saint history. Historian Richard L. Bushman compliments Andrew Kimball as “a master storyteller.” This episode offers a powerful glimpse into why.
After earning a PhD in literature from Harvard University, Andrew Kimball spent his career in the financial industry, including as executive vice president of Moody’s Corporation. He coauthored the popular biography of his grandfather, Spencer W. Kimball: The Twelfth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He and his wife, Kathryn, have six children and live in New York City.
Today we turn the tables on popular podcast hosts Susan Hinckley and Cynthia Winward to interview them about their new book, At Last She Said It: Honest Conversations About Faith, Church, And Everything in Between. You may be familiar with their At Last She Said It podcast, and how for the past five years they have helped listeners grappling with their faith within and without the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Their podcast has been a soft place to land for many, helping listeners know they are not alone. Signature’s Beth Brumer Reeve explores how Hinckley and Winward are even more vulnerable in their book and how their stories help anyone trying to navigate what can be a fraught journey within a high-demand and patriarchal religion.
SUSAN M. HINCKLEY is a storyteller in words and pictures. A longtime exhibitor with the American Craft Council, her art is held in private collections across the U.S. She’ll travel any distance for good green chile or a glimpse of her grandkids, splitting her time between the southwest and midwest. Wherever she is, her heart roams the desert—preferably in a fast convertible.
CYNTHIA WINWARD makes her home in Provo, Utah although she will always be a California girl. Before pouring all her creative energy into the At Last She Said It podcast, she was the owner of an online embroidery business. Her kitchen is her happy place where she enjoys making the world's greatest red chile enchiladas. She is enjoying the good life as an empty nester with her husband Paul.
Find them online on Instagram @atlastshesaidit
Author and poet Steven L. Peck joins Signature marketing manager Beth Brumer Reeve in an interview about his new book of poetry, Experiments in the Fading Light. Listen as Steven reads some of his favorites from this collection and shares how he got in trouble at school for reading so much during class, which we believe helped him become an amazing writer.
An award-winning novelist, short-story writer, and poet, Steven L. Peck is unusual in that he is also a working scientist who has published dozens of papers on evolutionary ecology and the philosophy of science. His worldwide studies of ecologies have given him a keen understanding of the dangers and troubles we face as a species and as individually embodied beings. He recently began to formally study soundscapes, especially the songs of our avian friends. His poetry reflects on his observations as he explores the wonders of this planet and our place in a complex world. He is an ecology professor at Brigham Young University, where he studies the ecology of birds and insects. He has published over fifty scientific articles on evolutionary ecology and the philosophy of biology.
You can find Steven on Instagram @sciencehoroscope.
Authors McArthur Krishna and Anne Pimentel sat down with Signature Books director Barbara Jones Brown to talk about the impetus behind their new book Changemakers: Women Who Boldly Built Zion. At a time when women are wondering if they matter at church, this book offers a resounding, “Yes!” Stories curated from scripture and global history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints show that women’s voices are needed and have definitively changed the landscape of the faith. Women have played a vital role in growing the worldwide church, with their ideas shaping its structure, policy, and culture. Listen in for a refreshing perspective on why women matter more than ever.
McArthur Krishna graduated from BYU with both an undergraduate and master’s degree. She co-owned an award-winning ideas marketing firm for a decade until she retired, got married, and moved to India. Over eight years she has written nineteen books, including A Girl’s Guide to Heavenly Mother and A Boy’s Guide to Heavenly Mother. Along the way she has coordinated some of the first art featuring women to be hung in the LDS Conference Center, commissioned and curated the first art show focused on Heavenly Mother with global artists, and her own art was selected for the Church’s International Art competition.
Anne Pimentel is a passionate advocate for people who find themselves on the margins of society, church, or life. She enjoys reading and learning about other cultures and perspectives. She works to widen the circle and amplify the voices of those who are often ignored. She is one of the founders of Meetinghouse Mosaic, an organization working to diversify Christian art. She assisted in curating a successful art show with the organization that focused on historically accurate and cultural depictions of Christ. Anne consistently shares about our Heavenly Mother, women's rights and voices, and social justice work on her social media account, The Vision Beautiful.
You can find both McArthur and Anne on Instagram:
@mcarthurkrishna_creates
@the.vision.beautiful
Nationally acclaimed author and journalist Alex Beam joins marketing specialist Beth Brumer-Reeve to talk about his new biography, Wallace Stegner: Dean Of Western Writers.
Stegner had a prolific career that spanned half a century, including fourteen novels and seventeen works of nonfiction. He won the coveted Pulitzer Prize for his 1972 book Angle of Repose, which later became embroiled in accusations of plagiarism.
Beam speaks to the controversy surrounding Stegner, his years growing up with a father who chased riches, and the sense of belonging he felt among the Mormons after his family moved to Salt Lake City in the 1920s.
Alex Beam has written two novels and seven works of nonfiction, two of them New York Times Notable Books of the Year. In 2014, he published American Crucifixion, a narrative history of the assassination of Joseph Smith, "an excellent book about the life and death of an utterly uncategorizable man," according to the Wall Street Journal.
A longtime columnist for The Boston Globe, Beam lives with his family in Newton, Massachusetts.
Author and BYU history professor Ignacio M. Garcia and Signature Books editorial manager John Hatch cover a lot of ground while discussing Garcia's new biography, Eduardo Balderas: Father of Church Translation, 1907-1989.
Balderas was a child refugee from Mexico whose family came to live in Texas in the 1900s. He joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, served a mission, became a branch president, and began translating for the church. Not only did he translate the Pearl of Great Price, the Doctrine and Covenants, Jesus the Christ, church manuals, and the temple ceremony, into Spanish, he also helped establish what became the church's Translation Department today.
Listen in and discover more about Balderas and how he created space for his Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters within the church that he found belonging in.
In this moving and powerful conversation, authors Laurie Lee Hall and Nathan Kitchen share the genesis of their new memoirs, Dictates of Conscience: From Mormon High Priest to My New Life as a Woman and The Boughs of Love: Navigating the Queer Latter-day Saint Experience During an Ongoing Restoration.
They speak to the dominant narratives found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regarding Queer issues, and how they reclaimed their own narratives.
Both authors are on Instagram @laurieleehall and @nathankitchen.
Join memoirist Laurie Lee Hall and Signature Books Director Barbara Jones Brown for this fascinating interview based on Laurie’s new memoir, Dictates of Conscience: From Mormon High Priest To My Life As A Woman.
Laurie’s growing-up years were defined by the conflict between her physical condition as a boy and her inherent identity as a girl. Unable to explain or resolve her gender dysphoria, she committed to living her adult life as a male. She joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and became chief architect of its temples, a stake president, and a parent of five children before she finally embraced her true identity and gradually transitioned to living full-time as a woman. Though she wanted to stay on as a church architect and a faithful church member, her stake president—and former counselor—excommunicated her following her gender transition. In this episode, Laurie shares her story and reads excerpts from her compelling new memoir.
"In what novelist John Gardner referred to as 'the vivid and continuous fictional dream,' Mary Clyde writes two stories of alternate realities with the same or similar characters. Here, fugue-like, a post-apocalyptic world in the Arizona desert informs, undercuts, reiterates, and ultimately harmonizes with a family struggling to tend to a son and brother hospitalized with traumatic brain injury. Or is it the other way around? Winner of the 1999 Flannery O'Connor Award for her collection, Survival Rates, Clyde presents life as blistered and harrowing but making way for something utterly new and unknown."
—David Pace, author of American Trinity and Other Stories from the Mormon Corridor
Author Mary Clyde talks with marketing specialist Beth Brumer Reeve about how Journeys from a Desert Road came to life, how her kids always talking about a zombie apocalypse informed her story, and why she doesn't believe in writing at 5:00 a.m.
Find out more about her book here: https://www.signaturebooks.com/books/p/journeys-from-a-desert-road
Dive into the stories behind Mormonism’s best-known histories with Signature’s soon-to-be released anthology, Writing Mormon History 2. Authors and contributors Joe Geisner, Elisa Eastwood Pulido, Roger D. Launius, and Konden R. Smith Hansen join Signature editorial manager John Hatch for a lively discussion of their work behind their books that made Mormon history.
Joseph W. Geisner is an independent researcher who has published in the Journal of Mormon History, Sunstone, John Whitmer Historical Journal, Irreantum, and elsewhere. With Lavina Fielding Anderson, he created the chronologies found in Confessions of a Mormon Historian: The Diaries of Leonard J. Arrington. In 2020 Signature Books published his edited work, volume one of Writing Mormon History: Historians and Their Books.
Elisa Eastwood Pulido received her PhD in Religious Studies at Claremont Graduate University. Her book The Spiritual Evolution of Margarito Bautista: Mexican Mormon Evangelizer, Polygamist Dissident and Utopian Founder, 1878–1961, won Best Biography awards from the Mormon History Association and the John Whitmer Historical Association.
Roger D. Launius is principal of Launius Historical Services in Auburn, Alabama. He served as chief historian of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and as associate director for Collections and Curatorial Affairs at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. He is the author of Joseph Smith III: Pragmatic Prophet and Invisible Saints: A Study of Black Americans in the Reorganized Church, among several other books and articles on history and space exploration.
Konden R. Smith Hansen holds degrees in history, religious studies, and instructional design and technologies, and is lecturer of religious studies at the University of Arizona. His major publications include Frontier Religion: Mormons and America, 1857–1907, which won Best First Book from the Mormon History Association, and a co-edited volume with Michael Harold Paulos, The Reed Smoot Hearings: The Investigation of a Mormon Senator and the Making of an American Religion (2021), winner of Best Anthology from the John Whitmer Historical Association.
Authors Katie Ludlow Rich and Heather Sundahl, along with contributors Kalani Tonga, Linda Hoffman Kimball, and Amy McPhie Allebest, discuss the background behind Fifty Years of Exponent II with Signature Books director Barbara Jones Brown.
Covering topics from origins of the book to the intersection of Mormonism and feminism, you will love hearing about the awakenings these panelists experienced.
Katie Ludlow Rich is a writer and independent scholar of Mormon women’s history. Her work focuses on centering women’s voices and their agentive decisions even while functioning within a patriarchal tradition. 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. You can find her on Instagram @katieludlowrich.
Heather Sundahl believes in the power of stories. In pursuit of this, she has volunteered with Exponent II for twenty-eight years. As a writer and editor, Heather works to amplify marginalized voices and has collected the oral histories of Botswanan, South African, Native American, and queer Mormon women. She received a master’s in English from BYU and a master’s in marriage & family therapy from Utah Valley University. Heather works at a residential treatment center where she helps her teenage clients find narratives that promote growth and healing.
Kalani Tonga is an author, artist, and activist, as well as a proud mother of five children. You can find her artwork at kalanitongadesigns.com and on Instagram @kalanitonga.designs.
Linda Hoffman Kimball is an author, artist, and poet. She has written, compiled, or illustrated sixteen books, and has had her work included in many more.
Amy McPhie Allebest is a writer and student of all things relating to women’s studies. She is the creator and host of the Breaking Down Patriarchy podcast. You can find her at breakingdownpatriarchy.com.
Marketing specialist Beth Brumer-Reeve talks with author Richard D. Hanks about his new book, To Be a Friend of Christ: The Life of Marion D. Hanks, just released by Signature Books. In this discussion, Richard shares how his father, Marion, was always willing to champion the underdog while a prominent leader within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Drawing on thousands of letters and journal entries, we get a glimpse of the man behind the calling, and why mercy and compassion played such prominent roles in his forty years of service.
Richard D. Hanks is an author and retired senior business executive, having served at several of the largest multinational companies in the world, including Marriott, PepsiCo, and Price Waterhouse. Also a successful serial entrepreneur, he was named by Ernst & Young as Entrepreneur of the Year in 2010. Rich obtained his bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and his MBA from Northwestern University and taught as an adjunct professor at Cornell for ten years. He has served as a board director of profit and nonprofit organizations and as an in-demand public speaker and well regarded lecturer at many universities.
Join special guest host Rachel Rueckert, editor-in-chief of Exponent II magazine, for an insightful conversation with Katie Ludlow Rich and Heather Sundahl about their soon-to-be-released book, Fifty Years of Exponent II.They explore the common themes that feminist women have been facing since the inception of the Exponent IIin 1974.
Katie Ludlow Rich is a writer and independent scholar of Mormon women’s history. Her work focuses on centering women’s voices and their agentive decisions even while functioning within a patriarchal tradition. 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 believes in the power of stories. In pursuit of this, she has volunteered with Exponent II for 28 years. As a writer and editor, Heather works to amplify marginalized voices and has collected the oral histories of Botswanan, South African, Native American, and queer Mormon women. She received a master’s in English from BYU and a master’s in Marriage & Family Therapy from Utah Valley University. Heather works at a residential treatment center where she helps her teenage clients find narratives that promote growth and healing.
In addition to Rachel Rueckert’s work at Exponent II, she is the author of several books, most recently If The Tide Turns.
Follow them on Instagram at:
Katie @katieludlowrich
Rachel @rachelrueckert
Listen as contributors to the new volume, Secret Covenants: New Insights on Early Mormon Polygamy, delve into the complex history of early Mormon polygamy. The discussion covers Joseph Smith's controversial marriage proposals, the enduring fascination with the practice, and the pivotal role of Fanny Alger in the narrative. The guests emphasize the importance of centering women's experiences and perspectives when examining this chapter of Mormon history, shedding new light on a topic that continues to captivate scholars and the public alike. Signature Books editor John Hatch is joined by the volume’s editor and contributor, Cheryl L. Bruno, and authors Mark Tensmeyer, Christopher C. Smith, and Mary Ann Clements in this fascinating discussion.
Marketing specialist Beth Brumer-Reeve is joined by Kerry Spencer Pray, editor and one of more than thirty essayists in The Book of Queer Mormon Joy, just released by Signature Books. In this discussion, Kerry addresses how this book came to life, the importance of focusing on joy in the queer community, and why everyone should read it.
Kerry Spencer Pray teaches writing at Stevenson University in Owings Mills, Maryland. Mormon by birth, she taught at Brigham Young University for fourteen years and spent nearly twenty years in a mixed orientation marriage. She lives with and co-parents with her wife and gay ex-husband, putting her nonnuclear family in the category of a polycule. You can follow her on X @swilua and on Instagram @swilua_.
Signature Books held a captivating evening of poetry to celebrate National Poetry Month with our amazing authors.
Utah Poet Laureate Lisa Bickmore emceed the event and introduced our two most recently published poets, Maureen Clark, author of This Insatiable August, and Darlene Clark, author of Count Me In.
Other poets who read include Marilyn Bushman-Carlton, Warren Scott Hatch, Steven L. Peck, Laura Hamblin and Lisa Bickmore.
Listen to the power of the spoken word from the poets as they speak to love and loss, loneliness and grief, and faith and joy.
You can also watch this on Signature Books YouTube channel.
Recorded on April 16, 2024 at Signature Books.
Poet Darlene Young talks with Signature marketing specialist Beth Brumer Reeve about her latest book, Count Me In, and how it is a testament to showing up within her faith community and in life. Aubrey Chaves, co-host of the Faith Matters podcast, says Darlene “does the soul work of connecting us to the divinity and richness of the everyday.”
Count Me In is now available for purchase wherever Signature Books are sold. She will be reading from her collection on April 16 at 7 pm at Signature Books’s annual poetry night.
Darlene has published two previous collections: Here (BCC Press, 2023) and Homespun and Angel Feathers (BCC Press, 2019). She teaches writing at Brigham Young University. You can follow her on Instagram @darlylar.
In honor of Women’s History Month, Signature Books director Barbara Jones Brown talks with just some of the many women authors and editors who are soon-to-publish their books with Signature, including:
Cheryl L. Bruno, editor of Secret Covenants: New Insights on Early Mormon Polygamy
Katie Ludlow Rich & Heather Sundahl, authors and editors of a 50-year retrospective on the Exponent II
McArthur Krishna & Anne Pimentel, on change-making women in church history
Robin Ritch, editor of a collection of perspectives of Mormon women on the Equal Rights Amendment
Alice Faulkner Burch, author of a book on the Genesis Group and an essay in Writing Mormon History 2
Laurie Lee Hall, memoirist on her life as a transgender woman
Kerry Spencer Pray, editor of The Book of Queer Mormon Joy
We know you’ll enjoy hearing the varied perspectives of these women and their groundbreaking works in progress!
At this recent event at Signature Books, D. Michael Quinn’s two daughters and the annotators of Quinn’s posthumously published book, Chosen Path, shared what they learned about this enigmatic historian and father—and about twentieth-century Mormonism—through reading his remarkable new memoir. Listen in to this candid conversationas Mary Quinn, Lisa Quinn Harrison, Calvin Burke, Connell O’Donovan, Sue Bergin, and Barbara Jones Brown discuss the complexities of Quinn’s relationship with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and its history, along with his sexuality as a closeted gay Mormon for much of his life.
Quinn (1944–2021) will long be remembered as one of the most prominent historians of Mormonism. Born and raised in southern California, he taught history at Brigham Young University for twelve years after earning his PhD at Yale. He is the author of many groundbreaking articles and books on Mormon history, including his three-volume Mormon Hierarchy series (subtitled Origins of Power, Extensions of Power, and Wealth and Corporate Power), Elder Statesman: A Biography of J. Reuben Clark, and Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, for which he won the Mormon History Association’s Best Book Award in 1988.
In this episode, Signature marketing manager Devery Anderson talks with director Barbara Jones Brown and marketing specialist Beth Brumer-Reeve about our forthcoming titles over the next several months.
Seven books will be released during the first half of 2024. First are two volumes of poetry, Maurine Clark’s This Insatiable August and Darlene Young’s Count Me In, superb additions to our catalog. An anthology edited by Cheryl L. Bruno, Secret Covenants: New Insights on Early Mormon Polygamy, contains twelve new essays on the Nauvoo era, shedding more light on this period of early Latter-day Saint marriage practices. We are thrilled that Richard D. Hanks is publishing the first biography of his father, titled To Be a Friend of Christ: The Life of Marion D. Hanks. Hanks served as an LDS general authority for forty years in the latter half of the twentieth century. Kerry Spencer Pray is editor of The Book of Queer Mormon Joy, an anthology featuring stories of joy from dozens of essayists across the LGBTQ spectrum. Joseph Geisner is back with the second volume of Signature’s Writing Mormon History series, in which authors tell the fascinating backstories behind their published historical works, all of which are fascinating. Devery Anderson will contribute the seventh volume in our brief Mormon biographies series with Bruce R. McConkie: Apostle and Polemicist. McConkie’s writings, sermons, and teachings won him many friends and not a few critics.
Learn more about these forthcoming titles at signaturebooks.com.
In this episode, we talk with Maureen Clark about her collection of poetry, This Insatiable August, which releases in February 2024 wherever Signature Books are sold. Clark, a writer and poet living in Bountiful, Utah, redefines her voice in what poet Dayna Patterson calls "a tender miracle of a book." Listen in as she speaks about growing up Mormon, losing her religion, yet finding herself in the process of pouring her truth out through her words. She also reads two poems from her book that show, with humor, hope and vulnerability, why there must be passion in the heaven she envisions. Clark recently retired from teaching at the University of Utah. Her poetry can be found in Gettysburg Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Bellingham Review, Colorado Review, Southeast Review, and Sugarhouse Review. You can follow Maureen on her website at MaureenClark.art.
Signature Books is a proud member of the Dialogue Podcast Network.
In this episode, D. Michael Quinn’s son, Moshe; Equality Utah executive director Troy Williams; and historian Sara M. Patterson join Signature Books director Barbara Jones Brown for a compelling conversation on Mike Quinn’s remarkable new memoir, Chosen Path, newly published by Signature Books.
D. Michael Quinn will long be remembered as one of the most prominent historians of Mormonism. Born and raised in southern California, D. Michael Quinn (1944–2021) taught history at Brigham Young University for twelve years after earning his PhD at Yale. He is the author of many groundbreaking articles and books on Mormon history, including his three-volume Mormon Hierarchy series (subtitled Origins of Power, Extensions of Power, and Wealth and Corporate Power), Elder Statesman: A Biography of J. Reuben Clark, and Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, for which he won the Mormon History Association’s Best Book Award in 1988.
A lifelong Latter-day Saint, Quinn grapples in his memoir with the “subconscious factors operating” in his efforts to discover and reveal uncomfortable truths about his church’s history: his relationship with himself as a closeted gay man, his relationship with his oft-absent and secretive Mexican-American father, and his relationship with a church not yet ready to grapple with controversial aspects of its own identity. Quinn’s revelatory memoir provides perspective not only on his complex life, but also on readers’ own internal tensions.
The Mormon Studies community lost an icon in October with the death of Lavina Fielding Anderson. She was an important presence and voice for decades as an editor at the Ensign magazine, as an associate editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, editor of the Journal of Mormon History, as a professional editor who helped shape numerous articles and books by others, an insightful essayist, and author or editor of several books of her own. She also served on the Signature editorial board for forty years. Most importantly, she was a friend to everyone. Many of those she touched over the years gathered at Signature’s offices on Thursday, November 30, to share their thoughts about Lavina and what she meant to them. Lavina’s son Christian and his wife Marina also spoke, sharing thoughts they expressed at Lavina’s funeral held a few weeks earlier, including her eulogy.
Lavina's book of personal essays, Mercy without End: Toward a More Inclusive Church, released by Signature in 2020, is available in both paperback and as an ebook.
This episode features Alex Douglas, author of the new book, The Old Testament for Latter-day Saints. He and Signature marketing manager Devery Anderson discuss how biblical scholarship has enriched our understanding of the Hebrew Bible and specifically what this means for LDS Church members. How should they view statements in the Book of Mormon that reference the Pentateuch as having been written by Moses? What about Nephi quoting portions of Isaiah that had not yet been written? Are these scholarly conclusions detrimental to faith? This episode discusses all of this and more.
Today we talk with historian Thomas G. Alexander, author of John A. Widtsoe: Scientist and Theologian 1872-1952, a new biography in Signature’s Brief Biography series. Widtsoe (1872–1952) served as an LDS apostle for over thirty years and came to this position as an established author, scientist, and administrator, who believed science and religion could be harmonized and that all truth should be embraced and understood. Who was this man who was so influential in his day but who most Latter-day Saints today may know little or nothing about? Find out in this episode.
On this episode we talk to Noel Carmack, co-editor with Charles M. Hatch of the new two-volume work to be released in early November, Useful to the Church and Kingdom: The Journals of James H. Martineau, Pioneer and Patriarch, 1850-1918. Martineau converted to Mormonism in 1850 and spent his life as a surveyor, mapmaker, civil engineer, and leader in the Utah Territorial Militia. He witnessed and took part in several events in the territory and worked on the Union Pacific Railroad. His journal spans over sixty-eight years and is one of the most important diaries kept in nineteenth-century Utah, and the annotation provided by the editors is superb.
In today’s podcast, we talk with Andrew Hall, associate professor of East Asian History at Kyushu University, and Robert Raleigh, editor of In Our Lovely Deseret: Mormon Fictions, published by Signature Books.
Their current book, The Path and the Gate: Mormon Short Fiction**, is a collection of twenty-three short stories stemming from the prompt, “The Book of Mormon prophet Nephi describes the journey to eternal life as going through a gate of ordinances and traveling a ‘straight and narrow path.’” Many stories are human reactions to unexpected steps on the path: a lifetime of faith in a patriarchal blessing’s unfulfilled promise, a survivor of violence calling a divided community to repentance, a baptism gone very wrong, and spiritual gifts that extend far beyond the apostle Paul’s list. The characters stretch from wayward bishops and helpful home teachers to cyber-Seventies searching for lost sheep in the metaverse, with settings from the slums of Mumbai to a heaven that turns out to be more difficult than expected. Some characters reject the path’s restrictions and expectations, while others can second the reported words of J. Golden Kimball, “I may not always walk the straight and narrow, but I sure as hell try to cross it as often as I can.”
Join us as Andrew and Robert answer questions about the book’s genesis, and why Mormon fiction matters.*The Path and The Gate: Mormon Short Fiction releases October 16th in both paperback and ebook.*
September 2023 marks the thirtieth anniversary of what came to be dubbed “The September Six,” in which the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints excommunicated or disciplined six intellectuals and activists. Today’s guest is Professor Sara M. Patterson, speaking about her just-released book on the subject, The September Six and The Struggle for the Soul of Mormonism. In this thirty-year retrospective, Patterson challenges us to think more deeply about the events of that month and the era in which they unfolded, arguing that it was part of a much broader, decades-long cultural and theological debate over the nature of the church and its Restoration narrative.
Patterson will be in Utah to speak about her findings on Thursday, October 5, 2023, at the Salt Lake City Main Public Library (doors open at 6:30 PM) and at Writ and Vision in Provo at 6 PM on Thursday, October 7. The public is welcome to these free events. Books will be available for purchase and for author signing.
From 1872–1914, Latter-day Saint suffragists in Utah published a women’s rights newspaper called the Woman’s Exponent. In 1974, a group of Boston women that included historians Laurel Thatcher Ulrich and Claudia Bushman began publishing Exponent II, a quarterly periodical that they called a “spiritual descendant” of the original Exponent. Exponent II will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2024. As part of that commemoration, Signature Books is honored to publish a book on Fifty Years of Exponent II, co-edited by Katie Ludlow Rich and Heather Sundahl. Today’s podcast offers a sneak peak of this forthcoming book, as presented by Rich at the 2023 Sunstone Symposium.
This episode is from the 2023 Sunstone Symposium, Session 173, held on July 28, and features a panel of five authors of Signature's Mormon Lives series: Gary Topping, Constance Lieber, Newell Bringhurst, Stephen Carter, and Kenneth L. Cannon II. Signature Books publishes brief biographies about historical Mormon figures from across the belief spectrum. What new things have these biographies brought to Mormon Studies? Mormon Lives authors will discuss their discoveries in the lives of historian D. Michael Quinn, state senator Martha Hughes Cannon, LDS Church president Harold B. Lee, author Virginia Sorensen, and LDS apostle George Q. Cannon. This session is moderated by Holly Chase, who will talk more about the session and introduce the five author panelists.
In September 1993, six LDS scholars were disciplined by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, part of a larger purge that affected many more people long before and after September 1993.
In a session titled “Spiritual Paths of the September Six Thirty Years Later,” at the July 2023 Sunstone Symposium, members of the September Six and others spoke about their experience and their journeys during the thirty years since 1993. This recording of the first hour of that session, presented here courtesy of the Sunstone Education Foundation, featured Sara M. Patterson, author of the forthcoming Signature title, The September Six and the Struggle for the Soul of Mormonism; Maxine Hanks and Lynn Kanavel Whitesides, two of those disciplined in September 1993; and Signature director Barbara Jones Brown, reading D. Michael Quinn’s words from his memoir, Chosen Path, also forthcoming from Signature Books.
Listen as Signature Marketing Manager Devery Anderson interviews Ken Cannon about his new book, "George Q. Cannon: Politician, Publisher, Apostle of Polygamy." George Q. Cannon is generally acknowledged as second only to Brigham Young as the most visible leader of Mormonism in the mid- to late-nineteenth century. He became Young’s protégé and was an influential first counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for almost twenty-five years, serving with presidents Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and Lorenzo Snow. Known as the “spokesman for the kingdom,” Cannon was the central political figure of the church, not only serving as Utah territory’s delegate to Congress for ten years but also as chief political advisor and long-term editor of the Deseret News. Cannon helped shape doctrine, church governance, and administration during a period of significant change, defending and promulgating plural marriage both before and after the 1890 Manifesto. He was at the center of business life in Salt Lake City, serving as president of the largest publishing house, banks, a railroad, mining companies, electric companies, and other businesses. Though Cannon was loved and revered by his people, controversy sometimes touched his life and family.
For episode twenty-six, Signature marketing manager Devery Anderson talks with Robert A. Rees. Bob has been a prominent and thoughtful presence in Mormon Studies for decades. With the Sunstone Symposium coming up later this month, and Bob having edited two books with Signature with essays taken from the popular “Why I Stay” session of the symposium, this was an ideal time to have Bob on the podcast and to talk about these books, his future projects, why he feels it is all important, and some of the work he does to make the world better.
For episode twenty-five, Signature marketing manager Devery Anderson talks with Dan Vogel about his new book, Charisma under Pressure: Joseph Smith, American Prophet, 1831–1839, which deals with Joseph Smith’s middle years while he directed the Latter-day Saint movement from Kirtland, Ohio, and Far West, Missouri. Vogel focuses on the word “charisma” and how it applies to Joseph Smith and how this trait won him so many followers. This is also a period of many highs and lows for both the prophet and the church, which Vogel also discusses.
On Tuesday, May 23, Signature Books held an evening with four authors of our Brief Biography Series. Begun in 2021, this ongoing series has produced four titles with two more coming this year. Each biography offers a brief and enlightening overview into the lives of significant people of the Latter-day Saint tradition. The authors talked about their subjects and their subject's encounters with each other and each other’s history. Those on the panel were Gary Topping, author of D. Michael Quinn: Mormon Historian; Constance L. Lieber, author of Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon: Suffragist, Senator, Plural Wife; Stephen Carter, author of Virginia Sorensen: Pioneering Mormon Author; and Kenneth L. Cannon II, author of the forthcoming George Q. Cannon: Politician, Publisher, Apostle of Polygamy. A short paper by Newell Bringhurst on his book, Harold B. Lee: Life and Thought, read by Gary Bergera, was also included.
For episode 23, Signature marketing manager Devery Anderson talks with Gary Bergera about the three-volume Joseph Smith biography project that Bergera commissioned back in the early 2000s, which has just been completed. More particularly, they discuss the first book in the chronology, Richard S. Van Wagoner’s Natural Born Seer: Joseph Smith, American Prophet, 1805–1830, and how it compares to other studies of Smith’s early life.
In honor of National Poetry Month, we gathered Signature poets from the past four decades to read from their published collections. Listen in as we celebrate these wonderful wordsmiths, beginning with Dayna Patterson sharing from her recently released O Lady, Speak Again, and finishing with Utah Poet Laureate Lisa Bickmore reminiscing with us from her re-released book Haste, originally published in 1994.
This was a magical evening as the writers touched on the wonders of nature, feminism, navigating religion, facing the past, and love.
Other poets include Laura Hamblin, Alex Caldiero, Susan Elizabeth Howe, Marilyn Bushman- Carlton, Warren Scott Hatch, Kathy Evans, Cynthia Sillitoe (on behalf of Linda Sillitoe) and Millie Tullis.
You can also watch this on Signature Books YouTube
Recorded on April 26, 2023, at Signature Books.
In this episode, marketing manager Devery Anderson discusses with company director Barbara Jones Brown and managing editor John Hatch a few of Signature’s forthcoming titles . This episode is sure to whet your appetite for some great books in biography, documentary history, contemporary issues, and memoir.
Just released, Dan Vogel’s magisterial Charisma under Pressure: Joseph Smith, American Prophet, 1831–1839, sheds new life on Smith’s middle years in Kirtland, Ohio, and Far West, Missouri. Sara M. Patterson’s The September Six and the Struggle for the Soul of Mormonism, coming out this September, is a thirty-year retrospective on an era of anti-intellectualism, anti-feminism, and anti-homosexuality in the LDS Church that resulted in disciplinary actions against church members who fell into these categories. Kenneth L. Cannon’s George Q. Cannon: Politician, Publisher, Apostle of Polygamy, to be published this summer, promises to be an enlightening title joining several others in our Brief Mormon Biographies series. Also coming this summer is D. Michael Quinn’s Chosen Path: A Memoir, a highly anticipated book by one of Mormonism’s most prolific–and enigmatic–historians. Another summer title will be the two-volume diary edited by Noel A. Carmack and Charles M. Hatch, Useful to the Church and Kingdom: The Journals of James H. Martineau, Pioneer and Patriarch, 1850–1918. This important work sheds light on countless events in Utah and Latter-day Saint history that he witnessed and wrote about on a near-daily basis. Finally, we discuss a forthcoming anthology of essays by Mormon and Mormon-adjacent LGBTQ+ writers about their personal experiences in seeking and achieving Queer joy.
Did you know that Signature staff members are also book authors? In this episode, marketing specialist Beth Brumer Reeve talks with marketing manager Devery Anderson, company director Barbara Jones Brown, and editorial manager John Hatch about the books they’ve recently authored–all coincidentally released in 2023–and how being authors informs their efforts in working with the writers Signature publishes!
This episode is a panel discussion about a mysterious incident in 1977, in which an anonymous writer printed hundreds of pamphlets refuting Jerald and Sandra Tanner’s Mormonism—Shadow or Reality?, placed them in a storage locker, then mailed the key and a letter to bookseller Sam Weller, asking him to distribute them. The story of what happened next––told from three different perspectives of the event’s key players––unfolds in episodes published in three Signature Books titles: Ronald V. Huggins’s Lighthouse: Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Despised and Beloved Critics of Mormonism (2022); Confessions of a Mormon Historian: The Diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971–1997 (2018), edited by Gary James Bergera; and D. Michael Quinn’s memoir, Chosen Path (forthcoming this year), annotated by Barbara Jones Brown et al. Panelists Sandra Tanner and Huggins, Bergera, and Brown share what each of these participants had to say about the incident, then evaluate what it said about Mormon studies in the 1970s.
In honor of Women's History Month, in this episode we discuss the life of Virginia Sorensen: Pioneering Mormon Author, with her biographer, Steven Carter. Though Sorensen was a New York Times bestselling author and winner of the prestigious Newbery Medal, this is the first biography written about her fascinating life and work. Carter contextualizes his subject among the literary greats of the twentieth century. Raised as a Mormon in Provo, Utah, Sorensen graduated from BYU with a degree in journalism. Though, like her contemporary Fawn Brodie, Sorensen fell away from Latter-day Saint orthodoxy, her novels explore and are informed by Mormon themes and history.
For episode 17, we talk with writer Lisa Bickmore about her re-released book of poetry "Haste." Originally published by Signature Books in 1994, it is now back in print to commemorate Lisa's appointment as Utah Poet Laureate. In this interview, we delve into what it's like for Lisa to revisit her words almost 30 years later, and how poetry can provide shelter and hope. Lisa takes us back in time with her vivid writing when she reads "Small Fires" from her collection, and she explains what her vision will be as she begins her tenure as Utah Poet Laureate.
For episode 16, we talk with Dayna Patterson about her newly released collection of poetry, O Lady, Speak Again. Patterson engages with her faith crisis in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, her "ladylike rage" with the patriarchy, and how writing poetry has been a safe way to speak her truth. She also reads two poems from her book that beautifully weave together themes of Mormonism, Shakespeare and feminism. This is her second collection of poetry with Signature Books, the first being If Mother Braids a Waterfall, which debuted in February of 2020. You can follow Dayna on Instagram and Twitter @TitaniaYellow.
Episode 15 is a recording of a panel discussion held at the Signature Books offices on Thursday, January 19, 2023, moderated by Benjamin E. Park, editor of the new book, DNA Mormon: Perspectives on the Legacy of Historian D. Michael Quinn. Seven of the contributors to the book joined Park for the discussion: Maxine Hanks, Patrick Q. Mason, Gary James Bergera, Martha Bradley-Evans, Calvin Burke, Brianna Bratsman, and Millie Tullis. This episode includes both the discussion and the Q&A that followed. To save time, audience members’ questions are edited so that they only include Park repeating them into the microphone.
For episode 14, we talk with Michael Hicks, author of the new memoir Wineskin: Freakin’ Jesus in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Although we know Hicks as a scholar who writes on Mormonism and music and taught at Brigham Young University for thirty-five years, his background was anything but a conventional LDS upbringing. For the first seventeen and a half years of his life, he was a born-again Christian in the Baptist tradition. His conversion to Mormonism, early experiences within his ward, and return home after a brief time in the mission field played a role in his excommunication. Excommunication? Yes, but he found his way back, lived to tell the tale, and now he shares it with the world.
Utah’s legislature recently voted to send a statue of Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon to represent the state in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall. Just who was Mattie Cannon, as she was known, and why does she matter today? Defeating her own husband in an election, Cannon became the first female state senator in the nation a quarter-century before most U.S. women could even vote. Our guest, Constance L. Lieber, explores the life of this remarkable woman in her recently released biography, Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon: Suffragist, Senator, Plural Wife, and in this episode with Signature Books director Barbara Jones Brown.
For episode 12, we present a session of the 2022 Salt Lake Sunstone Symposium held on Saturday, July 30, titled, “In Sacred Loneliness: The Documents––An Introduction and a Reading.” Here, historian Todd Compton discusses his new book; the session also includes six women who read the words of some of the women who married Joseph Smith in Nauvoo, Illinois, between 1841 and 1843. Nauvoo polygamy can never be understood without us knowing those who participated in it. This book, and the discussion you’re about to hear, help us get much closer.
For Episode 11, we interview Gregor McHardy, author of Eight Myths of the Great Apostasy. Latter-day Saints have long taught that for there to have been a Restoration, the original church led by Jesus and his apostles had to have been taken from the earth due to falsehoods creeping in, which then led to authority to govern the church being lost. From there it took nearly two millennia before any degree of spirituality, truth, or even the presence of God returned, followed by the establishment of a new dispensation led by Joseph Smith. Was it as bad as all that, or have church members taught and been taught things that history does not fully back up?
If you’ve ever seen Salt Lake City’s Church History Library, Provo’s new Missionary Training Center, or many of the modern temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you’ve likely appreciated the beauty of these structures. What you may not know is that these iconic buildings were designed by a transgender woman. In this episode, Signature Books Director Barbara Jones Brown talks with the church’s former chief architect–and former stake president–Laurie Lee Hall about her forthcoming memoir from Signature. Hall hopes her story will foster greater understanding of the transgender experience while increasing hope and joy in the lives of Queer individuals and those who love them.
Twenty-five years ago, Todd Compton broke new ground with In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, each chapter containing biographies of the thirty-three women Compton identified as having married the Mormon prophet. This new volume, In Sacred Loneliness: The Documents, contains the primary source material created by these women, which made up much of the narrative of the first book: diaries, letters, legal documents, and so forth. Smith's wives speak for themselves through these documents, giving readers a unique opportunity to appreciate them on an entirely new level. He will be in Utah next week to talk about and read from his new book at several events.
In episode 8, Signature Books director Barbara Jones Brown talks with Romney Burke about his new biography of Susa Young Gates, the most famous and accomplished of Brigham Young’s fifty-six children. She was loyal to her father and her church, founded the Young Woman’s Journal and Relief Society Magazine, and was an author of poetry, fiction, and biography. But outside of her church work she was active in women’s suffrage and was known to national leaders of that movement. Just who was Susa Young Gates? Listen and find out.
In episode 7, author Ron Huggins and Sandra Tanner return to talk further about Ron’s new book, Lighthouse: Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Despised and Beloved Critics of Mormonism. This episode was a session of the Sunstone Symposium that took place in Sandy, Utah, at the Mountain America Expo Center, on Saturday, July 30, 2022. It is a discussion moderated by Barbara Jones Brown, director of Signature Books.
In episode 6, author Ron Huggins and Sandra Tanner join us to discuss Ron’s new book, Lighthouse: Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Despised and Beloved critics of Mormonism. For years the Tanners together ran—and today Sandra still runs—the Utah Lighthouse Ministry. Living and operating just blocks from the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Tanners have dedicated their lives to informing people of what they believe to be the truth about Mormonism and leading people to traditional Christianity. After sixty years in the business, Sandra has some stories to tell, and Ron has documented many of them in this important biography. No matter how one feels about their work, the influence the Tanners have had on LDS history and its accessibility cannot be dismissed. Listen as we discuss their story and Ron’s journey in writing it.
In episode 5, Barbara Jones Brown, new company director of Signature Books, and the first woman to hold this position, introduces herself to listeners and shares her thoughts about the company and her vision for its future. She also discusses her background and her own work in Mormon history. Not only is she co-author of a forthcoming book on the Mountain Meadows Massacre, but for four years she served as executive director of the Mormon History Association. Thus, she is well known and highly respected within the Mormon scholarly community. She comes along at a time when the publishing world is both exciting and challenging in unprecedented ways. But Brown is clearly up to the job!
In episode 4, author Michael Fillerup talks about his new collection, The Year They Gave Women the Priesthood and Other Stories. The lead story under the same title opens this spectacular volume of thoughtful, disturbing, enlightening, and brilliant essays. What would it be like in the LDS Church if it were led by women? Could the men handle it? Could the women handle it? Although a fictional account of a major change in LDS policy, it nevertheless brings an element of reality to it at a time when the desirability and benefits of women’s ordination is discussed and debated in many circles. And this is just one of sixteen stories you will want to read and devour. We are thrilled to have Michael back with Signature after twenty-seven years.
In episode 3, historian and professor emeritus Newell G. Bringhurst and I discuss his new book Harold B. Lee: Life and Thought. Lee’s tenure as LDS Church president was short—less than eighteen months, but his influence upon Mormon practice and policy spanned the 1930s and into the 1970s. Anyone who knew him had an opinion about him. He was strong-willed, quick to anger, and sensitive to criticism. He was rigid in his views on race and the place of those of African descent within the church. Yet he spearheaded change that continues to influence the church to this day. Lee has now been dead for nearly fifty years and most Latter-day Saints know little about him. Just who was Harold B. Lee, eleventh president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
In episode 2, retired archivist and writer Gary Topping sits down with me to talk about his new biography, D. Michael Quinn: Mormon Historian, newly published by Signature Books. We discuss Quinn’s early life, the influences that led him to research and write Mormon history, as well as some insight into the man himself. His was not the typical Mormon upbringing, and it made him one of the more unlikely individuals not only to develop a passion for studying the Mormon past, but to research, write, and publish about it. Quinn’s books, especially his three-volume series on the LDS hierarchy, his work into the early practice of folk magic within the church and the Smith family, and his study of Mormon same-sex dynamics and post-Manifesto polygamy, earned him many critics, numerous admirers, and no shortage of controversy.
This biography is part of Signature’s Mormon Lives series and is available for $9.95 in paper, $4.99 as an ebook.
In Episode 1, historian and archivist John Sillito discusses his new book, B. H. Roberts: A Life in the Public Arena, published by Signature Books. We talk about Roberts’s life as a young Mormon convert, born in England and raised in Utah, and what led to his becoming perhaps the most prominent intellectual in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Roberts was active in both church service as a general authority, and as a politician. He is also one of the most prolific writers ever to come out of the church.
Sillito’s work is the first major biography of Roberts in over forty years and will surely stand as the definitive story of Roberts’s life for decades to come. Who was B. H. Roberts? Find out here. And buy the book, which is available for $34.95 in a beautiful hardback edition, and $9.99 as an ebook.