Vardis Fisher and Virginia Sorensen were two of the leading lights in a golden age of Mormon literature, which occurred from the late 1930s through the 1950s. Two of leading lights of the current generation of Mormon cultural commentators, Stephen Carter and Michael Austin, decided that Fisher and Sorensen are worthy of renewed attention, and wrote biographies and literary critiques about them.

Stephen Carter, the author of Virginia Sorensen, Pioneering Mormon Author (Signature Books), is the editor of Sunstone, a position he has held since 2008. He is the author of the essay collection What of the Night?, he co-wrote the iPlates series of Book of Mormon graphic novels, and edited the multi-author anthology Moth & Rust: Mormon Encounters with Death, each of which won an award from the Association for Mormon Letters. This month he will be presented with the AML 2023 Smith-Pettit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Literature.

Michael Austin, the author of Vardis Fisher, A Mormon Novelist (University of Illinois Press), is the executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of Evansville. His many books include Rereading Job: Understanding the Ancient World’s Greatest Poem. His books have won two AML awards for religious nonfiction and two awards for criticism, and he received the AML 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award. He is co-founder and press director at BCC Press.

Here are some more recent Dialogue Book Report podcasts.

Dialogue Book Report #22: Recent Mormon Poetry with Dayna Patterson and Tyler Chadwick

March 17, 2023
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Guest Host Elizabeth Garcia, the Dialogue Poetry Editor, joins Andrew to interview two poets with new collections: Dayna Patterson, the author of O Lady, Speak Again (Signature Books, 2023), and Tyler Chadwick, the author of Litany With Wings (BCC Press, 2022). Besides their discussions of their new collections, they talk about their experiences co-editing Dove Song: Heavenly Mother in Mormon Poetry (Peculiar Press, 2018) and why they see themselves as Mormon poets.

Dialogue Book Report #21: Mormon Book Roundup, February 2023

February 15, 2023
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Andrew Hall, Cristina Rosetti, and Andrew Hamilton gather to discuss their favorite recent Mormon-related books, including histories, biographies, novels, memoirs, graphic novels, poetry, and more.

Dialogue Book Report #19: Strange Mormon Fiction: Dave Butler and William Morris

December 10, 2022
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Andrew is joined by authors Dave (D. J.) Butler and William Morris, to discuss their recent “strange Mormon fiction”. Dave introduces The Jupiter Knife, the second volume of his co-authored Hiram Woolley series, about a Mormon “cunning man,”  who uses magic and faith to do detective work and battle against monsters and deceivers in 1930s Utah. William introduces The Darkest Abyss: Strange Mormon Stories, his collection of short fiction written in a wide variety of speculative genres, including alternate history, high fantasy, science fiction, and more. They discuss their ideas on reimagining the past, present, and future of Mormonism, including the experience of spiritual gifts, in new and unexpected ways.

Dialogue Book Report #18: Steven L. Peck’s Heike’s Void

September 1, 2022
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Steven Peck joins Dialogue’s Andrew Hall and Jennifer Quist to discuss his latest novel, Heike’s Void.

Jennifer says, “Heike’s Void is a radical experiment with whether or not the atonement of Christ is truly infinite and eternal, without limits, or whether it is something else. And if it is something else, then how can any of us hope for it to ever be enough? There is no arithmetic of salvation in this novel . . . There is no bicycle to be paid for with piggy bank pennies. Instead, there are urgent but impossible questions about whether the mercy of God indeed ‘overpowereth justice,’ and if it does, do any of us actually believe it. If God hated someone, would it keep them from his infinite grace? Could their suicide? How about accidental homicide? Planned and deliberate homicide? Mass planned and deliberate homicide then? Is this not endless? . . . [It is] a charmingly written and characterized, gripping story about what is, ostensibly, the thing that makes the Church different from other backwater conservative religious American subcultures.”

Andrew says, “I am agog at how beautiful and fun to read Heike’s Void is. Steve’s previous work has placed him among Mormonism’s most creative and respected authors. This is now my favorite Peck novel.”