Moderator: Rosalyn Eves
Panelists:
Cindy Baldwin, Author
Amanda Rawson Hill, Author
Yamile Saied Méndez, Author
Elaine Vickers, Author
In a 2015 post for the School Library Journal, Sam Taylor writes about her childhood longing to find “non-preachy books about characters who were Mormon, going to school, and living life with their friends”--books that she wanted to find in the library, so she could read and discuss with friends, but which did not exist. As an adult writing in 2015, she notes that while there are many LDS kidlit authors publishing with national presses, most write fantasy and science fiction. This lack, she suggests, “seems to perpetuate the idea that Mormon characters do not belong in mainstream fiction. That our experiences and stories have no place outside of Mormon audiences. Or, as I encountered in my university creative writing classes, that Mormon representation is best accepted if the writer is questioning the Mormon faith, tearing it down outright, or using our faith as the butt of a joke.”
Nearly ten years on, and books by and about LDS youth for mainstream audiences are still rare, but are (hopefully?) becoming more common. In this panel, five authors who have recently published books about Mormon teens and children will discuss their experience writing for the national market: Amanda Rawson Hill (Once Upon a Family, Astra 2023; Hope of Elephants, Charlesbridge 2022), Cindy Baldwin (No Matter the Distance, Quill Tree/Harper Collins), Elaine Vickers (Fadeaway, Knopf/Random House 2022; Where there’s Smoke, Knopf/PRH 2023), Yamile Saied Méndez (On These Magic Shores, Lee and Low Books, 2020), and Rosalyn Eves (Beyond the Mapped Stars, Knopf/PRH 2021).
Panelists will address challenges and joys of writing for a national market, how they approach religious representation, and what religious details they decide to include and exclude. Finally, panelists will address what they hope to see in future national market books about Mormon characters for young readers.
7 сен 2024
