Signature Books Podcast

How do you write deeply personal poems without revealing too much about the people you care about? In this episode, poet David Thacker talks about his collection Some Hard Stars and the delicate work of writing about people and events that hold meaning to him.  David’s poems don’t turn away from hard topics, but they don’t leave us there either. With insight and tenderness, he reminds us to notice...

After uncovering complex and, at times, troubling family history, Millie Tullis did what she does best: she wrote about it in verse. She joins Beth Brumer Reeve to discuss her new collection, These Saints Are Stones . We talk about the process of researching her family history and what it means to sit with the unknown—how gaps in the archive can be approached with both truth and imagination. Milli...

Do Eli McCann’s parents think he is funny? Hear his answer on our latest podcast episode while we talk about his new book, We’re Thankful for the Moisture: A Gay Guy’s Guide to Mormon Faith, Family, and Fruit Preservation , a collection of essays adapted from his humor columns in The Salt Lake Tribune . Eli shares how he knew from a young age that he wanted to be a writer—and how voices like David...

Tracy Young Cannon had a vast influence on the musical voice of Mormonism in the twentieth century. In this episode, Shelby Fisher, a professor of music and a gifted organist, shares what she learned about Cannon as she researched his life. Cannon was a Salt Lake Tabernacle organist from 1905 to 1930, oversaw the creation of two hymnals and an expansive organist and chorister education program whi...

In one of the most unlikely coups in college basketball history, BYU signed basketball phenomenon AJ Dybantsa—the number one high school player in the U.S. Dybantsa’s decision stunned the sports world, and AJ continues to garner national attention.  In their new book, Game Changers :  AJ Dybantsa, BYU, and the Struggle for the Soul of Basketball, guests Matthew Bowman and Wayne LeCheminant explore...

Award-winning historian Gary Bergera joins John Hatch to talk about the complicated legacy of Ernest L. Wilkinson, who served as BYU president from 1951–71. From Wilkinson’s dogged determination, to the challenges he posed for church presidents David O. McKay and Harold B. Lee, Bergera unpacks how Wilkinson’s personality shaped the university—and how he often misunderstood the impact he had on oth...

Author Brian Q. Cannon sits down with editorial manager John Hatch to discuss his new book, Building a Global Zion: The Life and Vision of David O. McKay . The interview offers an up-close look at how McKay’s compassion and love for others shaped his leadership and his global vision for building unity within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Brian Q. Cannon is the Lemuel Hardison Re...

Beloved and acclaimed author, poet, and playwright Carol Lynn Pearson talks about the diaries she has kept for some seventy years—and why she decided to publish them. Speaking with Signature Books director Barbara Jones Brown, Pearson shares her personal experiences from the 1950s to the 1980s that made her a feminist, activist, and LGBTQ ally.  Pearson describes herself as a troublemaker and a pr...

Join author Andrew Kimball and editorial manager John Hatch as they bring to life the dramatic and deeply human stories behind one of Mormonism’s most prominent families—the descendants of Heber C. Kimball. From Helen Mar Kimball Whitney’s heartbreaking losses, to J. Golden Kimball’s candid self-doubt beneath his famously irreverent wit, Andrew Kimball’s new book, The Blood in Their Veins: The Kim...

Today we turn the tables on popular podcast hosts Susan Hinckley and Cynthia Winward to interview them about their new book, At Last She Said It: Honest Conversations About Faith, Church, And Everything in Between . You may be familiar with their At Last She Said It podcast, and how for the past five years they have helped listeners grappling with their faith within and without the Church of Jesus...

Author and poet Steven L. Peck joins Signature marketing manager Beth Brumer Reeve in an interview about his new book of poetry, Experiments in the Fading Light. Listen as Steven reads some of his favorites from this collection and shares how he got in trouble at school for reading so much during class, which we believe helped him become an amazing writer. An award-winning novelist, short-story wr...

Authors McArthur Krishna and Anne Pimentel sat down with Signature Books director Barbara Jones Brown to talk about the impetus behind their new book Changemakers: Women Who Boldly Built Zion . At a time when women are wondering if they matter at church, this book offers a resounding, “Yes!” Stories curated from scripture and global history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints show t...

Nationally acclaimed author and journalist Alex Beam joins marketing specialist Beth Brumer-Reeve to talk about his new biography, Wallace Stegner: Dean Of Western Writers.  Stegner had a prolific career that spanned half a century, including fourteen novels and seventeen works of nonfiction. He won the coveted Pulitzer Prize for his 1972 book Angle of Repose, which later became embroiled in accus...

Author and BYU history professor Ignacio M. Garcia and Signature Books editorial manager John Hatch cover a lot of ground while discussing Garcia's new biography, Eduardo Balderas: Father of Church Translation, 1907-1989 . Balderas was a child refugee from Mexico whose family came to live in Texas in the 1900s. He joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, served a mission, becam...

In this moving and powerful conversation, authors Laurie Lee Hall and Nathan Kitchen share the genesis of their new memoirs, Dictates of Conscience: From Mormon High Priest to My New Life as a Woman and The Boughs of Love: Navigating the Queer Latter-day Saint Experience During an Ongoing Restoration . They speak to the dominant narratives found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints r...

Join memoirist Laurie Lee Hall and Signature Books Director Barbara Jones Brown for this fascinating interview based on Laurie’s new memoir, Dictates of Conscience: From Mormon High Priest To My Life As A Woman . Laurie’s growing-up years were defined by the conflict between her physical condition as a boy and her inherent identity as a girl. Unable to explain or resolve her gender dysphoria, she...

"In what novelist John Gardner referred to as 'the vivid and continuous fictional dream,' Mary Clyde writes two stories of alternate realities with the same or similar characters. Here, fugue-like, a post-apocalyptic world in the Arizona desert informs, undercuts, reiterates, and ultimately harmonizes with a family struggling to tend to a son and brother hospitalized with traumatic...

Dive into the stories behind Mormonism’s best-known histories with Signature’s soon-to-be released anthology, Writing Mormon History 2. Authors and contributors Joe Geisner, Elisa Eastwood Pulido, Roger D. Launius, and Konden R. Smith Hansen join Signature editorial manager John Hatch for a lively discussion of their work behind their books that made Mormon history.  Joseph W. Geisner is an indepe...

Authors Katie Ludlow Rich and Heather Sundahl, along with contributors Kalani Tonga, Linda Hoffman Kimball, and Amy McPhie Allebest, discuss the background behind Fifty Years of Exponent II with Signature Books director Barbara Jones Brown. Covering topics from origins of the book to the intersection of Mormonism and feminism, you will love hearing about the awakenings these panelists experienced....

Marketing specialist Beth Brumer-Reeve talks with author Richard D. Hanks about his new book, To Be a Friend of Christ: The Life of Marion D. Hanks , just released by Signature Books. In this discussion, Richard shares how his father, Marion, was always willing to champion the underdog while a prominent leader within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Drawing on thousands of letters...

Join special guest host Rachel Rueckert, editor-in-chief of Exponent II magazine , for an insightful conversation with Katie Ludlow Rich and Heather Sundahl about their soon-to-be-released book, Fifty Years of Exponent II . They explore the common themes that feminist women have been facing since the inception of the Exponent II in 1974. Katie Ludlow Rich is a writer and independent scholar of Mor...

Listen as contributors to the new volume, Secret Covenants: New Insights on Early Mormon Polygamy , delve into the complex history of early Mormon polygamy. The discussion covers Joseph Smith's controversial marriage proposals, the enduring fascination with the practice, and the pivotal role of Fanny Alger in the narrative. The guests emphasize the importance of centering women's experie...

Marketing specialist Beth Brumer-Reeve is joined by Kerry Spencer Pray, editor and one of more than thirty essayists in The Book of Queer Mormon Joy , just released by Signature Books. In this discussion, Kerry addresses how this book came to life, the importance of focusing on joy in the queer community, and why everyone should read it.  Kerry Spencer Pray teaches writing at Stevenson University...

Signature Books held a captivating evening of poetry to celebrate National Poetry Month with our amazing authors. Utah Poet Laureate Lisa Bickmore emceed the event and introduced our two most recently published poets, Maureen Clark, author of This Insatiable August , and Darlene Clark, author of Count Me In . Other poets who read include Marilyn Bushman-Carlton, Warren Scott Hatch, Steven L. Peck,...

Poet Darlene Young talks with Signature marketing specialist Beth Brumer Reeve about her latest book, Count Me In , and how it is a testament to showing up within her faith community and in life. Aubrey Chaves, co-host of the Faith Matters podcast, says Darlene “does the soul work of connecting us to the divinity and richness of the everyday.”  Count Me In is now available for purchase wherever Si...