When the Cofradía de Letras Mormonas slowly took shape in the second half of 2017, we had a lot of potential projects in mind. We also understood that realistically, all efforts would have to focus on publishing a quarterly newsletter that came to be called El Pregonero de Deseret. So it was for the first two years, and finally, during 2020, we were able to take on a second project: a Spanish-language literary contest.
We called the contest “Palabras de Mormón,” an obvious play on words. Said contest was made possible through the backing of the incredible organization Mormon Lit Lab, and with the support of the Asociación de Escritores Santo de los Últimos Días del Perú. The call went out in January 2020, and the winners were announced in July. The three winning entries plus several honorable mentions were included in issue 3.3-4, which just came out. The three price entries also appeared, in the original Spanish and in translations into English, in the Mormon Lit Blitz webpage.
In total, a total of 59 entries were received from 48 authors located in ten countries, including Brazil and the United States. The pieces represented a wide range of genres: essay, flash fiction, memoir, poetry, short story, and theater. The voices were all quite different, with different styles and forms. The three points that bound them all together were the Spanish language, an undeniable Mormon-ness to them, and an evident love for writing. In many cases, there was an obvious effort to bring together the aesthetics of different genres with the spiritual dimension of what it means to be a Latter-day Saint.
We were pleasantly surprised, and even a bit overwhelmed, at the response the call received. Many of the authors wrote back to thank us for providing them with the opportunity to share their writing with someone, which implies there is an interest among Spanish-speaking Saints for this kind of creative spaces. The Cofradía is still small, basically a five-person outfit, but we were encouraged by the interest that was generated. While it is unlikely that we can take on another contest like this in 2021, we will continue to find ways to promote Mormon letters in Spanish.