Orson Scott Card is a novelist, critic, public speaker, essayist, and columnist. He writes in several genres but is known best for his science fiction works. His work for Aspen Books, “Helaman’s Christmas,” anchored the best-selling compilation, Christmas For the World. This Hugo- and Nebula-Award winner has sold millions of copies and has seen his work translated into numerous languages.
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich won both the Pulitzer Prize and Bancroft Prize for her book, A Midwife’s Tale. A professor at Harvard University, she is also actively involved in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She serves as the adviser for the undergraduate Latter-day Saint Student Association and the Latter-day Saint campus club. She also teaches an Institute of Religion class. Her work for Aspen Books, All God’s Critters Got a Place in the Choir, co-authored with Emma Lou Thayne, celebrates the variety and complexity of the lives of modern women around the world.
Betty J. Eadie is the author of three monumental works on the nature of heaven and spirituality. Born on the Rosebud Reservation to a Sioux Indian mother, Betty experienced two deaths, one as a child and one as a mother of seven, that gave her profound insights into the eternal nature of mankind and creation. Her book, Embraced By The Light, remained #1 on bestseller lists for nearly two years and was the first book to be featured on Oprah. She is highly sought after as a speaker, author, and counselor for groups and media around the world.
Dean Hughes has won multiple awards for his works, including the Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters (2005), a Lifetime Achievement award at the inaugural Whitney Awards (2018). And the Outstanding Achievement AML Award (2013). His work for Aspen Books in Christmas For the World, inspired thousands of readers throughout the Church to participate in fund-raising for Humanitarian International, now LDS Charities.
Daniel Peterson is a professor of Islamic Studies at Brigham Young University. He currently serves as editor for Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture, and also served as the editor at FARMS (now the Mormon Studies Review). But perhaps most impressive of this remarkable man is that he speaks 15 languages fluently. His work for Aspen Books, Abraham Divided, was lauded by Church leaders and scholars alike (President Howard W. Hunter reportedly bought 100 copies for other General Authorities). He has served in many Church capacities, including as a special emissary to Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Margaret Blair Young. In 2014 Sister Young received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Whitney Awards. She also received the Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters. Her novel, Salvador, probes the darkening of idealism among a Latter-day Saint family in the jungles of El Salvador. She currently works on literacy, educational, and film projects in the Congo.
