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5 books match the query 'Carter, Stephen'
Creature
The Life and Loves of May SwensonCarter, Stephen
Signature Books, 2026
In the summer of 1936, twenty-three-year-old May Swenson boarded a bus heading east out of her Mormon hometown of Logan, Utah. Her destination was New York City, where she had a single goal: become a poet. Creature tells the story of how this small-town woman fought to achieve her dreams in the Depression-era big city, keeping a roof over her head and honing her craft as she pursued romantic relationships with both men and women. After decades of struggle, Swenson became one of mid-century America’s most beloved and prolific poets.
What is it that makes her poetry so extraordinary? How did she see and reveal the world? How did she teach the art of poetry? And how does her work interact with her Mormon roots? Readers will learn the answers to these questions and more in this artfully written biography.
Creature
The Life and Loves of May SwensonCarter, Stephen
Signature Books, 2026
In the summer of 1936, twenty-three-year-old May Swenson boarded a bus heading east out of her Mormon hometown of Logan, Utah. Her destination was New York City, where she had a single goal: become a poet. Creature tells the story of how this small-town woman fought to achieve her dreams in the Depression-era big city, keeping a roof over her head and honing her craft as she pursued romantic relationships with both men and women. After decades of struggle, Swenson became one of mid-century America’s most beloved and prolific poets.
What is it that makes her poetry so extraordinary? How did she see and reveal the world? How did she teach the art of poetry? And how does her work interact with her Mormon roots? Readers will learn the answers to these questions and more in this artfully written biography.
Moth and Rust
Mormon Encounters with DeathSteven Carter
Signature Books, 2017
about death: it’s a veil or a mission call to the spirit
world. But our actual encounters with the reality of
death inevitably change us in ways that are difficult
to articulate.
In this collection, Mormon writers wrestle with
mortality and its aftermath. A family sings a hesitant
rendition of Happy Birthday to a grief-stricken
mother who buried her toddler just a few hours earlier;
an agnostic son decides he’s Mormon enough to
arrange a funeral for his believing father.
Some essays use death as a means to understand
faith. One author imagines a world where Heavenly
Mother visits her children in the form of their
female ancestors, appearing to her descendants in
times of grief or pain.
Others address practicalities: how do you protect
your children from death while still allowing them
to experience the world; how do you get through
one more nausea-ridden day of cancer treatment?
Still others delve into death’s questions: does the
overwhelming suffering that occurs in the animal
kingdom have a function in the “plan of happiness”?
Sometimes humorous, sometimes heartbreaking,
always thought-provoking, these personal essays,
poems, and stories may never be heard at a Mormon
funeral. But they probably should be.
Revising Eternity
27 Latter-day Saint Men Reflect on Modern RelationshipsEdited by Holly Welker
University of Illinois Press, 2022
An insightful exploration of the gap between human realities and engrained ideals, Revising Eternity sheds light on how Latter-day Saint men view and experience marriage today.
Virginia Sorensen
Pioneering Mormon AuthorStephen Carter
Signature Books, 2023
Who is Virginia Sorensen? How did a girl who grew up in a tiny Utah town in the 1920s become a globetrotting, award-winning author? And why has she been forgotten?
Though she wrote them four generations ago, Sorensen’s novels are more urgent today than ever, addressing issues both Mormons and former Mormons grapple with. Her body of work is a treasure trove of insight, compassion, and storytelling waiting to be rediscovered.