Presented to: Angela Hallstrom
For: Dispensation: Latter-day Fiction
Most readers who pick up a literary anthology have little notion of the challenges inherent in creating one. A successful anthology requires an editor with comprehensive knowledge of the subject matter who can skillfully analyze a diverse body of work as well as synthesize the unwieldy mass into a cohesive, engaging, and portable package. Few in the Mormon literary community are qualified to compile a representative collection of contemporary LDS short fiction, and of this select group, none are better suited to the task than Angela Hallstrom. Her considerable talents as a writer, teacher, and editor of creative writing are evident in her groundbreaking anthology, Dispensation: Latter-day Fiction.
Published by Zarahemla Books in 2010, Dispensation features carefully chosen short stories which hold universal meaning even as they encapsulate the unique essence of a genre, subject, and era. The collection’s artistic potency heralds the talent of our best fiction writers — Hallstrom herself among them — and promises a bright future for Mormon literature, yet its relevance and appeal extend beyond cultural and religious borders. The Association for Mormon Letters awards this citation to Angela Hallstrom for her vision and skill in editing this literary anthology which engages the human mind, heart, and spirit in the finest Mormon tradition.