Conference Weekend Special Guests
Come to meet & greets all weekend long!
When & Where:
Friday & Saturday, April 4 & 5
(Please see schedule for specific times)
SLC Downtown Store | 45 W South Temple
Traci Hunter abramson
Traci Hunter Abramson worked for the Central Intelligence Agency for several years and credits the agency with giving her a wealth of ideas for writing as well as the skills needed to survive her children’s teenage years. She has gone on to write a number of award-winning and best-selling suspense novels.
sian ann bessey
Sian Ann Bessey was born in Cambridge, England, and grew up on the island of Anglesey off the coast of North Wales. She left her homeland to attend university in the United States, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in communications, with a minor in English. She is a USA Today best-selling author.
sarah m. eden
Sarah M. Eden is a USA Today best-selling author of witty and charming historical romances, including 2019’s Foreword Reviews INDIE Awards Gold Winner for Romance, The Lady and the Highwayman, and 2020 Holt Medallion finalist, Healing Hearts. Combining her obsession with history and her affinity for tender love stories, Sarah loves crafting deep characters and heartfelt romances set against rich historical backdrops.
Chad morris & shelly brown
Chad Morris grew up wanting to become a professional basketball player or a rock star. Neither of those plans quite panned out, so he wrote and performed sketch comedy while going to college. Now he is a teacher and a writer.
Shelly Brown loves to write books for children. In her spare time, she enjoys the theater and traveling. In addition to her five children, she has three chickens and sixty-four Pez dispensers. (not sure how up to do date this info about chickens is so maybe we don't use it.
Rachel Cope
Rachel Cope received a BA and MA in history from Brigham Young University and a PhD in American history, with an emphasis in women's history and religious history, from Syracuse University. Rachel is a scholar of women's spirituality and conversion in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and works as an associate professor of Church History and Doctrine at BYU. Rachel is deeply committed to raising awareness of and funding for obstetric fistula victims throughout the global south.
Brent M. Rogers
Brent M. Rogers, Ph.D., is a managing historian for the Church History Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was the managing historian for the Joseph Smith Papers Project and co-edited six volumes in the Documents and Journals series of The Joseph Smith Papers. He is the award-winning author of numerous articles and books, including Buffalo Bill and the Mormons (Bison Books, 2024) and Unpopular Sovereignty: Mormons and the Federal Management of Early Utah Territory (University of Nebraska Press, 2017).
amber taylor & james goldberg
Lisa Olsen Tait, Amber C. Taylor, and James Goldberg are historians for the Church History Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The late Kate Holbrook (1972-2022) was the managing historian for women's history in the Church History Department.
Amber Taylor is a managing historian in women’s and international Church history at the Church History Department. Her doctoral studies focused on American Christian relations with the Holy Land, and she has written and presented on both Latter-day Saint history in the Holy Land and Latter-day Saint women’s history.
Melinda wheelwright brown
Melinda Brown is the author of An Endowment of Love: Embracing Christ's Covenant Way of Living and Loving. She has a passion for helping young adults learn to love the temple. She currently serves as a stake Relief Society president in a campus stake at BYU, where she's loved teaching Temple+ (a 10-week class) for the past five years. Her first book, Eve and Adam: Discovering the Beautiful Balance, was released by Deseret Book in 2020. She has a master's degree in Christian Practice from Duke Divinity School. She loves studying and implementing Christian education through sacred art.
lisa mangum
Lisa Mangum has loved and worked with books ever since elementary school, when she volunteered at the school library during recess. Her first paying job was shelving books at the Sandy Library. She worked for five years at Waldenbooks while she attended the University of Utah, graduating with honors with a degree in English. An avid reader of all genres, she has worked in the publishing department for Deseret Book since 1997. Besides books, Lisa loves movies, sunsets, spending time with her family, trips to Disneyland, and vanilla ice cream topped with fresh raspberries.
michelle wright
Michelle Wright discovered her love of baking in her grandmother's Idaho kitchen, where she learned to combine creativity, love, and service through sharing homemade treats. When she's not baking, she loves traveling the world in search of the best local cuisine and regional cookbooks.
kAREN TUFT
Karen Tuft was born with a healthy dose of curiosity about pretty much everything. She has written three contemporary romances and several Regency romances, including the popular Jennings series, as well as short stories and articles.
Live music brandon pak
Singer-songwriter Brandon Pak found his love for music and its healing, unifying power while singing karaoke in the basement with his mama. He hopes that by sharing his personal journey of finding God through music, he will inspire others to do the same.
