I meant to write about this sooner, but school, homework, blah blah blah endless litany of excuses. Anyway this past saturday I went to the Association of Mormon Letters Writing Conference at the Provo Library, mostly on behalf of my mother, who is on the AML list in a big way but couldn't trek to Utah. Anyway it was a lot of fun, even though I was positive I was the youngest one there. I went to a lucky thirteen workshop and Kathleen Dalton Woodbury tore apart the begining of my story (in a constructive way) and I went to a "1000 ideas in an hour" lecture hosted by Ms. Woodbury, who cited Card for a lot of the information behind it. I also sat at a lunch table with five published Mormon novelists, which was kinda cool.
I'm just wondering if Card ever attends any AML functions. As an LDS writer who publishes on a national level, AML might be pleased to have him as a speaker or lecturer at one of these shindigs. I don't really know, but I wonder if he's considered it.
[ November 06, 2003, 11:36 PM: Message edited by: sarcasticmuppet ]
Posted by Grandma Edie (Member # 5771) on :
Card received an award from the Association of Mormon Letters for SAINTS,(back before he had published the novel of ENDER'S GAME.) If he has had anything to do with AML since, I don't know.
Grandma Edie, also known as Edith S. Tyson, author of ORSON SCOTT CARD, Writer of the Terrible Choice.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
Is AML into literary respectability? You know how literary types often are about SF/F.
Posted by Zalmoxis (Member # 2327) on :
Yes, in the sense that there are members who like to read, write and discuss literary novels.
No, in the sense that a majority of the members read genre fiction (and many of them write it as well). Irreantum, the AML's literary magazine, has published issues dedicated to speculative fiction, romance, film and children's literature.
It's probably also the only 'literary' journal that has a speculative fiction editor (actually co-editors) in addition to its fiction, poetry and essay editors.
Speculative fiction has a peculiar place in the world of Mormon lit -- much larger than in other 'ethnic' or 'minor' literatures. This is due in no small part, of course, to Uncle Orson himself. His works have been the subject of several AML-conference papers over the years. He's one of the few individual authors whose body of work looms large enough (and important enough) to spark papers that synthesize or explore his ideas across several works rather than just focusing on one work or on a survey of an author's works.
----- sm: I'm quite jealous. Of course, if you had gone last year you could have seen that rat whose named dog fellow or armadillo whose named dugong or whatever it is he calls himself these days.
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
When I saw Ms. Woodbury's nametag I had to practice some heavy self control and not say "Hey! You're the moderator on OSC's online writing forum!"
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)