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Listen to this piece on our podcast “Let me know when you need to haul loads to the dump,” The Elders Quorum President says as he hands me the keys to my late grandmother’s home. “I’ll send some ward members over with a truck.” “Thank you,” I say. “But it might take a while. I want to settle into the place first.” The Elder’s Quorum President gives me a look that says if it were up to him, we’d be emptying the house with a backhoe. “I’m never setting foot in that house agai

Listen to this piece on our podcast I’m in love with a married man. That's not entirely accurate—his wife died fifteen months ago—but he is sealed to her, which means the marriage persists beyond death. So technically, eternally, he belongs to someone else. I have been turning this over in my mind for three blocks now, and my stomach has begun to register its objection. I think about my great-great-great-grandmother Hazel. Wife number two. I don't know much about her. She’s a

Listen to this piece on our podcast Spidering from rock to mossy rock, I brace for the floor to meet my face. Blessedly, it never comes. I remember our first few hikes, how you walked almost backward, turning at every step ready to catch me. I called you Orpheus, told you to look away from my slippery descent across the stone. You loved me then with your hand outstretched, love me now with your body turned, knowing I follow. And who knows what wet hell we have yet to pass thr

Listen to this piece on our podcast The tunnel from Zarahemla to the enemy camp narrowed. Nomi crouched until her shoulder blades scraped the earth above, sending a rain of dirt down her neck. The army used skinny girls as scouts because the tunnels were so small. But, had she grown since her last patrol? “Sh!” her sister Mara hissed behind her. Nomi nodded, though Mara wouldn’t be able to see her in the utter darkness, and crouched lower. Her knees were aching when they reac

Listen to this piece on our podcast His record is quite good, I think, and I am proud of him. He buried the plates almost as tenderly as he buried me. Moroni wept bitterly over both our graves, mine and the stone box at Cumorah that he buried our civilization in. O ye fair ones! How is it that ye could have fallen? How indeed! We blend together, our civilization and I, and I feel myself slipping into metaphor, as angel wives tend to do. We are many. Our names are lost in ever

Listen to this piece on our podcast There’s a general, unspoken agreement that we don’t talk about certain things at church. We don’t have to discuss what to avoid or explain the why. Everyone just knows. Everyone except for Sister Wheeley. She managed to ruin church so many times last year, but I didn’t write what she said down, which makes it harder to remember the terribleness. So for 2026, I’m using this section of my bullet journal to record any awkward stories she bring

This is the final contest that will be collected in our third anthology, which will be released next year. We're pleased to announce the finalists: Monday, 22 June: “Awkward Old Testament Stories” by Katherine Cowley Tuesday, 23 June: “Moroni’s Wife Is an Angel, Too” by Christopher Bissett Wednesday, 24 June: “Night without Darkness” by Lee Ann Setzer Thursday, 25 June: “Eurydice” by Alixa Brobbey Friday, 26 June: “Seconds” by J. A. Dove Saturday, 27 June: “In My Father’s Ho

Over the past 15 years, the Mormon Lit Blitz contest has published more than a hundred unique works of Mormon microliterature—short essays, stories, and poetry that stretch our sense of what literature can accomplish in a community of faith. Using short forms, we wanted writers and readers to get a taste of possibility. But after writers test their wings, we want them to have chances to stretch them. A few years ago, we also started a mentoring program to help past contest f

"Seraphim", Ernst Wilhelm Nay, 1964 It's a little hard to believe we're on the 15th annual Mormon Lit Blitz. Thank you to everyone who has submitted over the years, and especially to this year's contest! From June 22-July 4, we will publish twelve finalists, one per day, with audience voting to follow starting on July 5. It's difficult to settle on just twelve finalists, so we traditionally also announce a long list of 24 contest semi-finalists. The top 24 pieces, listed alp

Want to explore an idea and connect with other writers? Submissions for the Fifteenth Annual Mormon Lit Blitz writing contest are due on May 31, 2026 to this google form . Submitted works may be in any genre so long as they are under 1,000 words and designed to resonate in some way with a Latter-day Saint audience. Submissions may be written in any language. Previously published material and simultaneous submissions are acceptable. AI-generated text is not acceptable; othe