Levi S. Peterson

Levi Savage Peterson (born 1933) is a Mormon biographer, essayist and fictionist whose best-known works include the seminal biography of Juanita Brooks, his own autobiography and his novel TheBackslider, "standard for the contemporary Mormon novel".^[1] He was born and reared in the Mormon community of Snowflake, Arizona and is an emeritus professor of English at Weber State University. He edited Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought from 2004 to 2008.

His work as a writer centers in "the possibility of wrong behavior"; his works "variously examine the tension between Sainthood as fact and Sainthood as aspiration, between belief and doubt, and between expected blessings and the traumas of reality."^[2] Similarly, he taught his writing students to "Write from the other side of your inhibitions".^[3]

Partial bibliography

• Peterson, Levi S. (1982), The Canyons of Grace, Signature Books, ISBN 0-941214-26-5, OCLC 8306271
• Peterson, Levi S., ed. (1983), Greening Wheat: Fifteen Mormon Short Stories, Orion Books, ISBN 0941214125, OCLC 10118168
• —— (1986), The Backslider, Signature Books, ISBN 0941214451, OCLC 14378627
• —— (1988), Juanita Brooks: Mormon Woman Historian, Utah Centennial Series (5), University of Utah Press, ISBN 978-1-60781-151-0, OCLC 18106573
• —— (1990), Night Soil: New Stories, Signature Books, ISBN 1560850035, OCLC 21873653
• —— (1995), Aspen Marooney, Signature Books, ISBN 1560850787, OCLC 33166649
• —— (2006), A Rascal by Nature, A Christian by Yearning: A Mormon Autobiography, University of Utah Press, ISBN 978-0-87480-851-3, OCLC 62766043

References

1. People of Paradox by Terryl L. Givens, page 313 (2007) ISBN 0-19-516711-2
2. "1983 AML Award: Editing & Publishing Honorable Mention". Association for Mormon Letters. Retrieved 2009-11-02.
3. "The Bright Side of the Dark Side" by Patricia Karamesines

External links

• Levi S. Peterson at the MLCA Database
• Mormon Expression interview with Levi Peterson
• Mormon Stories interview with Levi Peterson