I’ve written a Wikipedia article if anyone would like to doublecheck.

2000 winner: angel of the danube

I don’t know if Bennion has tried to pitch the novel to the national market. Maybe he will now that he has the award in hand. But I would guess that Zarahemla and Parables are the only real options these days (unless there’s an academic press out there that is dying for some Mormon-tinged Western Regionalism).

One nice thing about the contest is that even though it’s become a bit less Mormon-oriented and a bit more Utah-oriented in the move to UVU, it is still asking specifically for a “literary mainstream novel” — although I wish that it was a bit broader than what the rest of the scope is — “focusing on realistic cultural experiences of the Utah Region…”

As a big fan of his short stories, I was a little disappointed with Falling Towards Heaven. I was wondering if he was up to another novel. Hopefully this will be published sooner rather than later – can’t wait to get my hands on it.

Oh, I couldn’t agree more. Listening to people bellyache about other people not doing anything is a pet peeve of mine. I would like to be more involved in AML, but instead I’m writing three books and articles for AMV and Sunstone and another unannounced forum, and starting a publishing company. So I’m helping the Mormon Arts in my own little way. I would like to be more involved in the AML, but this year, just getting stuff submitted to the Irreantum contest will about run me dry.

So I’m counting on everyone else to stand up.

Stand up!

Academics aren’t always the most savvy when it comes to PR, and the AML is understaffed. Prof. Wahlquist was very responsive and gracious when it came to AMV’s inquiries into the contest.

Rather than roll our eyes, perhaps we should volunteer to help. Of course, the AML staff knows that I’m always happy to help put together a plan and review materials when it comes to PR/marketing. The problem is that I’m not going to commit to doing all the writing and communications work because a) my time is already stretched rather thin b) it really benefits from somebody local doing it [even these days] c) I’m lazy and d) the best use of my time would be a bit more broad and extensive than trying to generate publicity for a few awards and events.

Of course, that may very well be the issue with the AML — everybody wants to pontificate on how it should be run, but very few are willing to do the real work involved in running the operations of the organization (seriously, Kathleen deserves a medal — or a statue).