Famous Mormon Writers and Authors Page 4

David Stitt was born in Portland, Oregon. He served a Spanish-speaking mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

He has worked in the defense industry since 1985 as a physicist specializing in SONAR systems and underwater sound transducers. He enjoys music (especially classical), golf, and sound reproduction. He and his wife, Jill, live in central New York. They have two grown children, Jessica and Ashlie.

From the introduction: There is no corridor surrounding the iron rod, shielding the straight and narrow path from the mists of darkness (1 Nephi 12:17). Those who are holding fast are surrounded by the mists of darkness. However, they have the iron rod to keep them from being deceived. When I find myself in a situation where I am enticed to do something wrong or I am feeling too lazy to do something that is right, the enticement itself is not sinful as long as I give no heed to it. Furthermore, ignoring a true enticement is manifesting great loyalty and righteousness to the Lord.

	Janette Rallison	Janette grew up in Pullman, WashingtonJanette has written six books for teens. She currently lives in Chandler, Arizona, with her husband and children. www.janetterallison.com
	Kristen Randle author	Kristen D. Randle writing has been called "gritty, smart, and realistic" (ALA Booklist) and "compelling" and "powerful" (School Library Journal). She is the author of several novels, including the highly praised Breaking Rank, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age, and The Only Alien on the Planet, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, the Michigan Library Association Book of the Year, and winner of the California Young Readers' Medal. Ms. Randle and her husband have four children, two dogs, and three horses. They live in a little wood on the banks of a Utah river. www.authortracker.com
Photo www.cedarfort.com	David Ridges	David J. Ridges has been teaching in the Church Educational System for 30 years and has been associate director and instructor at Orem Institute of Religion adjacent to Utah Valley State College. He has taught for several years at BYU Campus Education Week and Know Your Religion programs. He has also served as a curriculum writer for Sunday School and Seminary manuals. www.cedarfort.com
	Lori Ries children's writer	"Kids can't be dogs, but Ben and Aggie let them know they can be readers." (Horn Book Starred review.) ' Punk Wig discusses cancer while managing to be realistic, touching and humorous.' (Cancer Care Connection) "A loving tribute to brothers everywhere; may Sam's stories continue. '(Kirkus Reviews) A literacy advocate, Lori creates fun to read books for children. Lori's career began through Highlights Foundation with a scholarship to their Annual Chautauqua Writing Workshop in 2002. She wrote her first book right there that week under Chautauqua's spell. "Super Sam" was taken by her reader, an editor at Charlesbridge, and was published in 2004. Currently, Lori has six books. She lives in Oregon with her husband and children.
	Tom Roulstone novelist	Tom was first published in 1981 with an article in the Pacific Northwest Quarterly. In December 2000 he retired from college history teaching to pursue writing full- time. He is the author of six LDS historical fiction novels and two Western novellas. All three of his Passage of Promise series are still available. His first novel One Against the Wilderness (1996) is now back in print. Tom's latest novel Reluctant Soldier, Reluctant Saint (2010) is now in LDS bookstores. Tom and his wife Serenity live on Vancouver Island, where he is the president of the Qualicum Beach LDS branch. http://tomroulstone.com
	Suzie Roberts	Suzie Roberts is one of those busy mothers who knows how challenging (not to mention boring!) putting dinner on the table night after night can be. She started her own Make-Ahead Meal Group in 2004 and became such a believer in this method of cooking that she decided to share her success with others. She continues to come up with creative and fun ways to give her more time to spend with family and friends. Suzie lives in Perry, Utah, with her husband, David, and their five children, Kyra, Kuen, Tatem, Bryson and Mylee. You can purchase Suzie’s cookbook, “Girlfriends on the Go, a busy mom’s guide to make ahead meals”

brandonsanderson.com	Brandon Sanderson writer	He is a fantasy author. A Nebraska native, he currently resides in Orem, Utah, while he finishes up his Master's degree in Creative Writing from Brigham Young University. Sanderson's writing is noteworthy for its epic fantasy tone, unique settings, precision magic systems, and variety of characters. brandonsanderson.com
	Candace E. Salima author	Candace E. Salima, the author of Forged in the Refiner's Fire, 13 & 0: Reflections of Champions and Out of the Shadows . . . Into the Light, has her fingers in many pies. With a book in the works with Merrill Osmond, the launching of her new podcast, Imagine, and two more of her own books on the way, Candace is a busy woman and a quickly rising star in the LDS industry. She travels around the nation promoting literacy at churches, schools and organizations. In April 2009, Candace launched her own publishing house, Valor Publishing Group. Valor published its first release in November of that same year, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff’s “Am I Not a Man? The Dred Scott Story.” http://valorpublishinggroup.com. www.candacesalima.com Imagine Podcast
Shelley Elementary School	Obert Skye	Obert Skye was born a number of years ago in a town just about the size of the one you are living in. Those who know him are shocked that Fate has picked him of all people to tell the tale of Foo. He is, after all, incredibly uneasy around people and has never desired the spotlight. Obert was last seen, pencil in hand, standing above the mismatched intersection of Twelfth and Pine Streets. If found, please contact us at LevenThumps.com. www.leventhumps.com
	David Stitt	David Stitt was born in Portland, Oregon. He served a Spanish-speaking mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He has worked in the defense industry since 1985 as a physicist specializing in SONAR systems and underwater sound transducers. He enjoys music (especially classical), golf, and sound reproduction. He and his wife, Jill, live in central New York. They have two grown children, Jessica and Ashlie. From the introduction: There is no corridor surrounding the iron rod, shielding the straight and narrow path from the mists of darkness (1 Nephi 12:17). Those who are holding fast are surrounded by the mists of darkness. However, they have the iron rod to keep them from being deceived. When I find myself in a situation where I am enticed to do something wrong or I am feeling too lazy to do something that is right, the enticement itself is not sinful as long as I give no heed to it. Furthermore, ignoring a true enticement is manifesting great loyalty and righteousness to the Lord.
Photo: Herbert Huber	Samuel W. Taylor (1907-1997) author and screenwriter	Samuel W. Taylor was a descendant of President John Taylor. He wrote many stories and magazine articles for the Saturday Evening Post, Colliers, Adventure and Esquire. He also wrote books concerning Mormonism including The Last Pioneer: John Taylor, a Mormon Prophet (1999) and film scripts including The Absent Minded Professor (1961). Internet Movie Database Biography (German)
	Rebecca Talley	Rebecca was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California. She spent countless hours swimming in the ocean, collecting shells, and building sandcastles. She graduated from BYU with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications. While attending BYU, she met and married her sweetheart, Del. Rebecca now lives in Colorado on a small ranch with horses, goats, a dog, a cat, and a llama named Tina. She and Del have been blessed with 10 creative and multi-talented children. She has had children's stories published in online and print magazines, including the Friend, is the author of the children's picture book Grasshopper Pie and the LDS novel Heaven Scent. http://www.rebeccatalleywrites.blogspot.com http://www.rebeccatalley.com

	Briana Walker author, inspirational speaker	Briana is the author of a self published book called "Dance Anyway". Because of the book she has become a popular public speaker in the church and also for organizations, schools, companies, etc. Briana tells Famous Mormons "I really enjoy it (speaking) and to be honest, I never before imagined this as a career and by accident it has turned out that way. What a great adventure it has been thus far... One of the highlights was getting invited for a private lunch with Governor Huntsman and First Lady Mary Kaye Huntsman at the Governor's mansion. Another was performing live on stage at the Vibe Music Awards along side of Ludacris and Chingy. Like I said earlier, what a great adventure." From her website: On a bright California Sunday afternoon Briana Walker was driving on the 55 Freeway when she fainted at the wheel of her black Honda Accord, hitting the cement median at seventy-five miles per hour. A young, aspiring dancer, just 23 years old at the time of her accident, Briana was determined to create an amazing life in spite of her new circumstances. www.brianawalker.com
	Rick Walton children's author	Rick Walton is the author of more than thirty books for children, including So Many Bunnies: A Bedtime ABC and Counting Book and What to Do When a Bug Climbs in Your Mouth and Other Poems to Drive You Buggy. When he is not writing, he likes to read, travel, and play the guitar. Rick lives in Provo, Utah, with his wife, Ann, and their four children. Author Interview -- Rick Walton
	Terry Tempest Williams writer and conservationist	She says, "I write through my biases of gender, geography, and culture. I am a woman whose ideas have been shaped by the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau, these ideas are then filtered through the prism of my culture and my culture is Mormon. The tenets of family and community which I see at the heart of that culture are then articulated through story." She is best known for her book Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place , a chronicle of the rise of Great Salt Lake and the flooding of the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in 1983, alongside her mother's ovarian cancer, caused by radioactive fallout from the nuclear tests in the Nevada desert in the 1950's and 60's. It is regarded as a classic in American Nature Writing, a testament to loss and the earth's healing grace. Source: Coyote Clan
	Julie Wright	Julie is an award winning author of *To Catch a Falling Star, Loved Like That,* and *My Not So Fairy Tale Life. In the national market, I have recently completed the first of a fantasy series for young adults titled The Thirteenth Month.* She is developing an adult fantasy trilogy called *The Triad* with its first book called The Sand Prophets. She is working on an LDS war trilogy titled Nineteen and an LDS young adult novel called *Seeking Zion*. www.juliewright.com
Photo: Fantastic Fiction	Dave Wolverton aka David Farland science fiction	He has published ten novels in the fields of fantasy and science fiction, and has been nominated for the Nebula and Hugo awards. Many new writers know him as a judge for the L. Ron Hubbard "Writers of the Future" contest. He won the top award in the contest in 1987, an event which effectively sparked his career. Last summer, he broke the Guinness Book world record for most book signings at one sitting for A Very Strange Trip, which he adapted from an L. Ron Hubbard short story.

Rick Walton

Author Interview -- Rick Walton