Praise for Wayfare

“Wayfare is the most encouraging development that I've seen in Mormon letters for some time.” -Nate Oman

“Unbelievably thoughtful and gorgeous.” -Melissa Inouye

“I couldn't be more impressed with Wayfare.” -Joe Spencer

“An astonishing and beautiful publication.” -Ardis Parshall

“Wayfare is amazing.” -Steven Peck

“I love what Wayfare is doing.” -Sam Brown

“Wayfare is a triumph.” -Adam Miller

“Marvelous!” -Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

About Us

Wayfare seeks to be a companion and guide on the journey of faith. We publish a range of original writing: essays, interviews, dispatches, profiles, poetry, miracles, sermons, and works of book, film, and art criticism.

The Restoration began with a sincere question and the reception of divine truth. Wayfare embraces that hunger for new light with the conviction that our Heavenly Parents always desire to reveal more to their children. 

Because truth is often stranger and more subtle than we imagine, we follow Jacob’s example of wrestling with complexity, mystery, and eternity. For that reason, Wayfare welcomes new voices and ideas that transcend, explore, and expand familiar boundaries—we seek after the true, the good, and the beautiful wherever they may be found. 

Our aim is to cultivate within individuals and communities the more abundant life that is found in Christ through writing that is leavened with faith, brightened by hope, and deepened through charity. 

Finally, we affirm the revelation Joseph Smith received May 9, 1831: That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.


Wayfare is a publication of the Faith Matters Foundation. We publish weekly through our newsletter as well as in biannual print issues. 

Our name was partly inspired by two songs: A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief and Wayfaring Stranger. 

If you are interested in writing for Wayfare, you can find more information in our pitch guide.

Get in touch! Write us at wayfare@faithmatters.org.


Masthead

Editor

Zachary Davis

Associate Editors

Rachel Jardine

Rachael Johnson

Benjamin Peters

Managing Editor

Lori Forsyth

Senior Editors

Gideon Burton

Kristine Haglund

Anna Thurston

Poetry Editor

Kathryn Knight Sonntag

Art Editor

Esther Hi'ilani Candari

Books Editor

Scott Raines

Fiction Editor

Jeanine Bee

Film Editors

Barrett Burgin

Celene Mitchell

Contributing Editors

Shayla Frandsen

Tyler Johnson

Allison Pond

Isaac Richards

Charlotte Wilson

Social Media Editor

Cece Proffit

Digital Editor

Katie Lewis

News Editor

Jaxon Washburn

Creative Directors

Doug Thomas

Cole Melanson

Copyeditor

Mark Melville

Production Assistants

Rosie Serago

Hannah Wilson

Advisory Board

Matt Bowman

Richard Bushman

George Handley

Jennifer Frey

James Goldberg

Randall Paul

Sharrona Pearl

Jana Riess

Charles Stang

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Rosalynde Welch

Subscribe to Wayfare

Explorations in Faith

People

James Goldberg

James Goldberg is a poet, novelist, and champion of Mormon literature. His works include The Five Books of Jesus and A Book of Lamentations.

Blair Hodges 

Amateur seeker, professional communications person.

Zachary Davis 

Executive Director of Faith Matters // Editor at Wayfare // Host of Ministry of Ideas.

Carl Youngblood

Tech entrepreneur. President of the Mormon Transhumanist Association.

Tim Chaves

Podcast host, board member at Faith Matters. Tech entrepreneur, husband and dad.

Samuel Benson

Deseret News staff writer. BYU grad. Aspiring peacemaker.

Jason R. Combs

Assistant Professor at Brigham Young University. Master’s degrees from Yale Divinity School and Columbia University. Ph.D in Religious Studies specializing in New Testament and early Christianity from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Joseph Spencer

A philosopher and student of scripture, as well as the author of a lot of different things (books, book chapters, articles, and other academic things).

Joshua Sabey

Josh Sabey is an award-winning writer and director. His recent book, Ali the Iraqi was published by BCC press. His latest documentary won best documentary at the Boston Film Festival where it screened alongside Taika Waititi’s Jo Jo Rabbit.

Kristine Haglund 

Kristine Haglund is the author of Eugene England: A Mormon Liberal and a past editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. She should have been a music major, but holds degrees in German Studies from Harvard and the University of Michigan.

Kristian Heal

Kristian Heal is a scholar of early Syriac Christianity and a Research Fellow at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship.

Ryan Fairchild

Ryan Fairchild is an entertainment and technology lawyer, father of three, and husband to the supremely talented Angelyn Otteson Fairchild.

Shayla Frandsen

Wayfare contributing editor. MFA student at BYU, MA in English literature from the City College of New York. Her writing can be found in Under the Sun, Exponent ii, Dialogue, JAKE, Beaver Magazine, and more.

Theric Jepson

Theric Jepson is an author, teacher, critic, and general annoyance based in the Bay Area. See also: thmazing.com/thbiblio (@thmazing on social media) irreantum.associationmormonletters.org theric@thmazing.com

Alison Brimley

Alison Maeser Brimley’s work has been published in Dialogue, Sunstone Magazine, Western Humanities Review, and elsewhere. She lives in Utah with her husband and two daughters.

John Jacob

John Jacob is a retired Professor and Extension Specialist with the Texas A&M University System.

George B. Handley

I am a professor of Interdisciplinary Humanities and Comparative Literature at BYU where I have taught since 1998. I am the author most recently of The Hope of Nature, If Truth Were a Child, and the novel, American Fork.

Steven L. Peck

Steven L. Peck is an ecologist at BYU and a fellow of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. In addition to his scientific work, he has published four award-winning literary novels, poetry, short stories, and essays.

Nate Oman

I'm a law professor at the College of William & Mary with thoughts on the world, mostly about law, politics, religion, and books.

Natalie Brown

Writer, scholar, mother, lawyer, and Latter-day Saint living in Boulder, CO.

Scott Raines

“And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”

Mark Bennion

Mark's trying to write a few poems, become a good husband & father, and raise the level of conversation. He teaches writing and literature at Brigham Young University-Idaho.

Michael Austin

Michael Austin is the academic vice president and provost at the University of Evansville.

Jordan Watkins

Assistant Professor of Church History and Doctrine at BYU and author of Slavery and Sacred Texts: The Bible, The Constitution, and Historical Consciousness in Antebellum America.

Adam S. Miller

Adam S. Miller is a professor of philosophy at Collin College in McKinney, Texas. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including Original Grace, The Gospel According to David Foster Wallace, and An Early Resurrection.

Merrijane Rice

Lead Editor for DMBA and secretary on the Mormon Lit Lab board. My poetry has been published by BYU Studies, Ensign, New Era, Segullah, Wayfare, the Mormon Lit Lab, and the Utah State Poetry Society. For more information, visit www.merrijanerice.com.

M. Esperanza Dotto

Argentinian transplant studying Psychology at BYU.

Lori Forsyth 

Wayfare Managing Editor. Lori is happiest when connecting ideas and discussing them with friends. She edits in several places and writes in a few (often LoriNotes.wordpress.com). She has a hard time passing up a good analogy.

Ben and Jenna Storey

We are Senior Fellows at the American Enterprise Institute, Research Professors at Furman University, and co-authors of Why We Are Restless: On the Modern Quest for Contentment, from Princeton University Press.

Elizabeth Garcia

Elizabeth Cranford Garcia’s work has recently appeared in Tar River Poetry, Orchards Poetry Journal, and Artemis. She is the current Poetry Editor for Dialogue: a Journal of Mormon Thought. Read more of her work at elizabethcgarcia.wordpress.com.

Jenny Champoux

Director of the Book of Mormon Art Catalog

Richard Bushman

Gouverneur Morris Professor of History emeritus at Columbia University and the author of Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling: A Cultural Biography.

Gideon Burton

Gideon Burton is Assistant Professor of English at Brigham Young University where he teaches Renaissance literature, literature of the Latter-Day Saints, and rhetoric.

Adam Haver

Adam Haver received the 2022 Willie Morris Award for Southern Poetry. He was most recently published in The Pierian and Braided Way and will be included in an upcoming edition of Ballast. You can connect with him on Twitter: @ac_haver.

Daniel Becerra

Daniel Becerra is an Assistant Professor of Ancient Scripture at BYU and a scholar of early Christianity.

R. de la Lanza

I'm just a man who reads the world... and sometimes writes on it.

Thomas Wayment

Professor of Classics, Brigham Young University.

Rachel Meibos Helps

Rachel Meibos Helps is the Wikipedian-in-Residence at the BYU Library and a writer of interactive fiction and scholarship on Mormon literature.

Nancy Fulda

Nancy Fulda is a past Hugo and Nebula Nominee, a Phobos Award winner and a Vera Hinckley Mayhew Award recipient. She is a professor at at BYU, where she researches knowledge representation, machine learning, and conversational AI.

Ben Inouye

Middle school English teacher. Coach. Husband and father. Occasional bus driver. Author of middle grade fantasy and creative non-fiction.

Cece 

Wayfare Social Media Editor.

Jaxon Washburn

Wayfare News Editor; Masters Student at Harvard Divinity School.

Cole Melanson 

I like quarto sized books.

Annabelle Clawson

MPhil in Multi-disciplinary Gender Studies from the University of Cambridge. BS in Mathematics from BYU. Academic editor, feminist historian, freelance writer.

Terryl Givens 

Terryl Givens is Maxwell Senior Research Fellow at BYU. His books include studies in theology, biography and intellectual history. The New York Times has called his scholarship “provocative reading,” and he has been a commentator on PBS, CNN and NPR.

Benjamin Peters 

Wayfare Associate Editor. A media scholar, author, and editor interested in Soviet century causes and consequences of the Information Age. See more work here: Benjaminpeters.org @bjpeters

Tyler Johnson

Editor-at-large. Stanford medical oncologist. Clinical Assistant Professor. Podcaster @TheDoctorsArt. Author writing on spirituality, meaning, and medicine.

Rosalynde Welch

Research fellow and associate director at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship.

Kathryn Knight Sonntag

Kathryn Knight Sonntag is the author of The Mother Tree: Discovering the Love and Wisdom of Our Divine Mother (Faith Matters Publishing, 2022) and The Tree at the Center (BCC Press, 2019).

Faith Matters 

Exploring an expansive view of the Restored Gospel.

Moe Graviet

Moe is a graduate student from Emmett, Idaho, studying religion and literature at Yale Divinity School.

Chanel Earl

Chanel Earl is a writer—mostly of fiction—who currently teaches writing at Brigham Young University.

Lizzie Heiselt

Lizzie is a writer, reader, runner, mother, lover, and seeker. She lives in a small Brooklyn, NY apartment with her family and a lot of bikes.

Dallin Lewis

Dallin Lewis is an associate professor of English at Southern Virginia University.

James Talmage Egan

Songwriter who wishes he were a novelist. http://www.jameseganmusic.com/

Bethany Brady Spalding

Bethany writes books; runs school gardens; raises three girls with her lover in Richmond, VA; and serves as the Social Impact Director for Generus. https://deseretbook.com/t/author/bethany-brady-spalding https://dstreetpress.com/

Liz Busby

writer of speculative fiction, creative nonfiction, book reviews, and literary criticism; co-host of Pop Culture on the Apricot Tree, a podcast about pop culture from an LDS perspective

Andrew Maxfield

Composer of Music & Words • 2021 King's Singers New Music Prize, Special Commendation • “Rhythmically vital … superbly judged … [and] tender”—Fanfare Magazine

Darren Bush

Darren is a paddler, blacksmith, odonatologist, canoe designer, writer, and part-time hospice chaplain. He and his wife Stephanie own Rutabaga Paddlesports, an outdoor specialty shop in Madison, Wisconsin.

alexander laurent rubalcava

Photographer and writer

Benjamin Dearden

Ben Dearden is a lawyer, a husband, and a father of two sons. He enjoys writing articles, screenplays, and stories with tiny audiences.

Lee Ann Setzer

Lee Ann Setzer holds a degree in speech-language pathology and works as project coordinator with a free early literacy project at Brigham Young University.

Bill Turnbull 

Bill is co-founder and chairman of Faith Matters and lives in Midway, Utah with the love of his life, Suzy.

Rachael Johnson 

Associate Editor of Wayfare; Mom of three, scholar of early modern religious history, and happiest with a mug of hot chocolate and cozy conversation.

Matthew Bowman

Matthew Bowman is Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University and the author of several books.

Tony Brown

Professor of Russian at BYU

Aubrey Chaves

Faith Matters podcast host and board member. Professional cake artist and mom of four.

Bob Rees

Bob Rees, a scholar, poet, and humanitarian, is co-founder and vice-president of Bountiful Children's Foundation,

Rachel Jardine 

Associate Editor at Wayfare. Mother, road-tripper, and part-time attorney. Always in pursuit of more hours in the day, always up for a chat about the secret of life.

Sarah Carter (she/her)

poet, mother, teacher, believer

Miranda Wilcox

Miranda Wilcox is an associate professor of English at Brigham Young University where she teaches medieval literature. She holds a MMS and PhD in Medieval Studies from the University of Notre Dame and researches early medieval religious culture.

James R. Swensen

Art and photo historian, curator, and proud father of four skiers.

Michael Ferguson, PhD

Instructor in Neurology at Harvard Medical School. Director of the Neurospirituality Lab at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Fellow at Harvard Divinity School's Center for the Study of World Religions.

Darlene Young

DARLENE YOUNG is the author of two poetry collections, Homespun and Angel Feathers (BCC Press, 2019), and Here (brand new from BCC Press). She lives in South Jordan, Utah.

Trina Caudle

Trina Caudle is an editor & writer focused on personal stories, and graduated from Western Oregon University with a BS in history & journalism. She and her family live in Washington DC.

Charles Shirō Inouye

Professor of Japanese Literature and Visual Culture at Tufts University and the author of The End of the World, Plan B; zion earth zen sky; and Hymns of Silence (forthcoming from BCC Press).

Esther Hi'ilani Candari

Esther is an Asian-American fine artist and educator from Hawai'i. Across genres and disciplines her work explores the intersections of religion, gender, race, ecology, and sense of place. She currently serves as the Art Editor for Wayfare.

Richard Eyre

Writer Author or co-author of 59 books including #1 New York Times Bestseller. Frequently writes with wife Linda More at TheEyres.com

Jeanine Bee

Jeanine Bee is a writer of short fiction and creative non-fiction, and the fiction editor for Wayfare Magazine. Her works have been featured in Irreantum, Dialogue, and the Mormon Lit Blitz.

Ben Ogles

Clinical psychologist and professor in the Department of Psychology at Brigham Young University.

Ariel Bybee Laughton

Ariel Bybee Laughton, an independent scholar in Houston, Texas, holds a B.A. in History from BYU and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Early Christianity from Duke University. She writes on women, gender, asceticism, and Biblical interpretation in late antiquity.

Courtney Hatch

English Instructor. American Literature MA Student. Creative Nonfiction and Poetry Writer. Knitter of sweaters. Mom of 3.

Alixa Brobbey

Alixa Brobbey is a poet and law student currently based in Provo, Utah.

Valerie Hudson

Valerie M. Hudson is a University Distinguished Professor at Texas A&M University, where she directs the Program on Women, Peace, and Security.

Mattathias Singh (he/him)

A Sikh-Mormon-Jew with a wildly interfaith and transcultural intercontinental family. Reader, Writer, Listener, Ponderer.

Jon Ogden

Co-Founder at UpliftKids.org, a lesson library and curriculum for families to explore timeless values together.

Allison Pond

Contributing Editor

Katie Lewis 

Wayfare digital editor. Editor for the BYU Studies quarterly publication. Freelance editor for Eschler Editing. Annie Dillard fangirl.

Samuel Brown

I'm a physician scientist working on sepsis and ARDS. Outside medicine, I write books (https://samuelbrown/net) on intellectual history and theology.

Gabriel González Núñez

Gabriel González is the author of several children's books, a short story collection, and a poetry collection. He is a professor of translation at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He was born in Uruguay.