Signature Books Podcast

In honor of Women’s History Month, Signature Books director Barbara Jones Brown talks with just some of the many women authors and editors who are soon-to-publish their books with Signature, including: Cheryl L. Bruno , editor of Secret Covenants: New Insights on Early Mormon Polygamy Katie Ludlow Rich & Heather Sundahl , authors and editors of a 50-year retrospective on the Exponent II McArth...

At this recent event at Signature Books, D. Michael Quinn’s two daughters and the annotators of Quinn’s posthumously published book, Chosen Path , shared what they learned about this enigmatic historian and father—and about twentieth-century Mormonism—through reading his remarkable new memoir. Listen in to this candid conversation as Mary Quinn, Lisa Quinn Harrison, Calvin Burke, Connell O’Donovan...

In this episode, Signature marketing manager Devery Anderson talks with director Barbara Jones Brown and marketing specialist Beth Brumer-Reeve about our forthcoming titles over the next several months.  Seven books will be released during the first half of 2024. First are two volumes of poetry, Maurine Clark’s This Insatiable August and Darlene Young’s Count Me In , superb additions to our catalo...

In this episode, we talk with Maureen Clark about her collection of poetry, This   Insatiable August , which releases in February 2024 wherever Signature Books are sold . Clark, a writer and poet living in Bountiful, Utah, redefines her voice in what poet Dayna Patterson calls "a tender miracle of a book." Listen in as she speaks about growing up Mormon, losing her religion, yet finding...

In this episode, D. Michael Quinn’s son, Moshe; Equality Utah executive director Troy Williams; and historian Sara M. Patterson join Signature Books director Barbara Jones Brown for a compelling conversation on Mike Quinn’s remarkable new memoir, Chosen Path , newly published by Signature Books.  D. Michael Quinn will long be remembered as one of the most prominent historians of Mormonism. Born an...

The Mormon Studies community lost an icon in October with the death of Lavina Fielding Anderson. She was an important presence and voice for decades as an editor at the Ensign magazine, as an associate editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought , editor of the Journal of Mormon History , as a professional editor who helped shape numerous articles and books by others, an insightful essayist, a...

This episode features Alex Douglas, author of the new book, The Old Testament for Latter-day Saints . He and Signature marketing manager Devery Anderson discuss how biblical scholarship has enriched our understanding of the Hebrew Bible and specifically what this means for LDS Church members. How should they view statements in the Book of Mormon that reference the Pentateuch as having been written...

Today we talk with historian Thomas G. Alexander, author of John A. Widtsoe: Scientist and Theologian 1872-1952 , a new biography in Signature’s Brief Biography series. Widtsoe (1872–1952) served as an LDS apostle for over thirty years and came to this position as an established author, scientist, and administrator, who believed science and religion could be harmonized and that all truth should be...

On this episode we talk to Noel Carmack, co-editor with Charles M. Hatch of the new two-volume work to be released in early November, Useful to the Church and Kingdom: The Journals of James H. Martineau, Pioneer and Patriarch, 1850-1918 . Martineau converted to Mormonism in 1850 and spent his life as a surveyor, mapmaker, civil engineer, and leader in the Utah Territorial Militia. He witnessed and...

In today’s podcast, we talk with Andrew Hall, associate professor of East Asian History at Kyushu University, and Robert Raleigh, editor of In Our Lovely Deseret: Mormon Fictions , published by Signature Books. Their current book, The Path and the Gate: Mormon Short Fiction , is a collection of twenty-three short stories stemming from the prompt, “The Book of Mormon prophet Nephi describes the jou...

September 2023 marks the thirtieth anniversary of what came to be dubbed “The September Six,” in which the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints excommunicated or disciplined six intellectuals and activists. Today’s guest is Professor Sara M. Patterson, speaking about her just-released book on the subject, The September Six and The Struggle for the Soul of Mormonism. In this thirty-year retr...

From 1872–1914, Latter-day Saint suffragists in Utah published a women’s rights newspaper called the Woman’s Exponent. In 1974, a group of Boston women that included historians Laurel Thatcher Ulrich and Claudia Bushman began publishing Exponent II , a quarterly periodical that they called a “spiritual descendant” of the original Exponent . Exponent II will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2024....

This episode is from the 2023 Sunstone Symposium, Session 173, held on July 28, and features a panel of five authors of Signature's Mormon Lives series: Gary Topping , Constance Lieber , Newell Bringhurst , Stephen Carter , and Kenneth L. Cannon II . Signature Books publishes brief biographies about historical Mormon figures from across the belief spectrum. What new things have these biograph...

In September 1993, six LDS scholars were disciplined by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, part of a larger purge that affected many more people long before and after September 1993.  In a session titled “Spiritual Paths of the September Six Thirty Years Later,” at the July 2023 Sunstone Symposium,  members of the September Six and others spoke  about their experience and their journ...

Listen as Signature Marketing Manager Devery Anderson interviews Ken Cannon about his new book, "George Q. Cannon: Politician, Publisher, Apostle of Polygamy." George Q. Cannon is generally acknowledged as second only to Brigham Young as the most visible leader of Mormonism in the mid- to late-nineteenth century. He became Young’s protégé and was an influential first counselor in the Fir...

For episode twenty-six, Signature marketing manager Devery Anderson talks with Robert A. Rees. Bob has been a prominent and thoughtful presence in Mormon Studies for decades. With the Sunstone Symposium coming up later this month, and Bob having edited two books with Signature with essays taken from the popular “Why I Stay” session of the symposium, this was an ideal time to have Bob on the podcas...

For episode twenty-five, Signature marketing manager Devery Anderson talks with Dan Vogel about his new book, Charisma under Pressure: Joseph Smith, American Prophet, 1831–1839 , which deals with Joseph Smith’s middle years while he directed the Latter-day Saint movement from Kirtland, Ohio, and Far West, Missouri. Vogel focuses on the word “charisma” and how it applies to Joseph Smith and how thi...

On Tuesday, May 23, Signature Books held an evening with four authors of our Brief Biography Series. Begun in 2021, this ongoing series has produced four titles with two more coming this year. Each biography offers a brief and enlightening overview into the lives of significant people of the Latter-day Saint tradition. The authors talked about their subjects and their subject's encounters wit...

For episode 23, Signature marketing manager Devery Anderson talks with Gary Bergera about the three-volume Joseph Smith biography project that Bergera commissioned back in the early 2000s, which has just been completed. More particularly, they discuss the first book in the chronology, Richard S. Van Wagoner’s Natural Born Seer: Joseph Smith, American Prophet, 1805–1830 , and how it compares to oth...

In honor of National Poetry Month, we gathered Signature poets from the past four decades to read from their published collections. Listen in as we celebrate these wonderful wordsmiths, beginning with Dayna Patterson sharing from her recently released O Lady, Speak Again , and finishing with Utah Poet Laureate Lisa Bickmore reminiscing with us from her re-released book Haste , originally published...

In this episode, marketing manager Devery Anderson discusses with company director Barbara Jones Brown and managing editor John Hatch a few of Signature’s forthcoming titles . This episode is sure to whet your appetite for some great books in biography, documentary history, contemporary issues, and memoir.  Just released, Dan Vogel’s magisterial Charisma under Pressure: Joseph Smith, American Prop...

Did you know that Signature staff members are also book authors? In this episode, marketing specialist Beth Brumer Reeve talks with  marketing manager Devery Anderson, company director Barbara Jones Brown, and editorial manager John Hatch about the books they’ve recently authored–all coincidentally released  in 2023–and how being authors informs their efforts in working with the writers  Signature...

This episode is a panel discussion about a mysterious incident in 1977, in which an anonymous writer printed hundreds of pamphlets refuting Jerald and Sandra Tanner’s Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? , placed them in a storage locker, then mailed the key and a letter to bookseller Sam Weller, asking him to distribute them. The story of what happened next––told from three different perspectives of the...

In honor of Women's History Month, in this episode we discuss the life of Virginia Sorensen: Pioneering Mormon Author, with her biographer, Steven Carter. Though Sorensen was a New York Times bestselling author and winner of the prestigious Newbery Medal, this is the first biography written about her fascinating life and work. Carter contextualizes his subject among the literary greats of the...

For episode 17, we talk with writer Lisa Bickmore about her re-released book of poetry "Haste." Originally published by Signature Books in 1994, it is now back in print to commemorate Lisa's appointment as Utah Poet Laureate. In this interview, we delve into what it's like for Lisa to revisit her words almost 30 years later, and how poetry can provide shelter and hope. Lisa tak...