The Association for Mormon Letters has chosen Brigham Young University–Hawaii to host its first annual AML conference outside of Utah. The conference themed “Narrative Art and Mormons in a Global Age” is meant to attract the global community on campus to discuss Mormon-related works and artists from around the world, according to its website.
Joseph Plicka, assistant professor for the English Department in BYUH, is the president of the AML for this coming conference. He explained BYUH was chosen to be the venue for the conference because the organization was trying to spread out and recognize LDS writers in Hawaii, other Pacific islands, and Asia.
He said, “We are a global religion now. We talk and are proud of it, not just in our building and our missionary efforts. Our culture should also become an international culture as well. We should move in that direction.”
Emphasizing that students will benefit from the event, Plicka stated, “Students will get exposure to a whole new world that they probably never knew existed. A world of serious LDS writers and artists who are trying to create beautiful things, beautiful stories, and ask important questions.”
As stated on its website, keynote speakers for the conference are Terryl and Fiona Givens, who are writers for several books including "The God Who Weeps" and "Crucible of Doubt.”
According to Amazon, the New York Times has praised their books and the Givens’ were the winner of the 2012 Best Book Award from the Mormon History Association.
“These are prominent, smart, wonderful and high powered Latter-day Saint scholars and writers. Terryl, along with his wife Fiona, have written many books about LDS ideas and he does a really good job of linking the gospel and other ideas in our philosophy and literature. This is a great opportunity to listen to one of the most highly respected scholars in the field of Mormon studies,” said Plicka.
Miranda Lee, a senior English major from Oregon, said, “I’m pretty excited to have Mormon writers coming to campus to talk about writing, books and to interact with them and learn about the industry and things that they've encountered.”
Lee said she hopes more people will attend and added, “I think everyone loves stories. We all watch television, movies, read books, and even music tells a story of some kind. We all just have this love for stories and what people have gone through and their progression from start to finish. Hopefully people will get to appreciate the product of storytelling and attend the conference.”
Angela Fantone, a freshman English major from the Philippines, said she has always wanted to attend writing conventions. She hopes to learn more about writing structure and advice for aspiring writers.
“The fact that it is concentrated on LDS writers makes me feel really good because writing and publication is a very hard industry to break into and to know that LDS people are successful in it, that is good news. I’m happy it’s going to be held here in BYUH,” said Fantone.
The conference will be held on Friday, March 4 and Saturday, March 5, 2016. More information about the event can be found on their website, associationmormonletters.org.