Articles on Utah literary arts, Utah authors, Utah literature and poetry published in 15 Bytes.
“I was taught from a young age that the earth was sacred,” is how Stacie Shannon Denetsosie’s The Missing Morningstar and Other Stories begins. “Yet, every two weeks or so, I’d back my little truck up to the edge of the Divergent Dam and throw our garbage into […]
The 15 Bytes Book Award, which has been recognizing literary excellence since 2013, honors Rio Cortez’s Golden Ax, published by Penguin Poets, with its 2023 award in poetry. With her debut poetry collection, Cortez offers a window into the complexities of the Black experience in the American West. […]
Craig Childs’ Tracing Time, a compelling work of creative nonfiction inspired by the author’s excursions through the American Southwest, has been awarded a 2023 15 Bytes Book Award. With a career spanning several decades, Childs has distinguished himself through a unique blend of adventurous exploration and deep scholarly […]
In recognition of its innovative syle and bold storytelling, Alyssa Quinn’s debut novel Habilis has been awarded this year’s 15 Bytes Award for Fiction. Published in 2022 by Dzanc Books, Habilis is a mesmerizing confluence of history, science, and personal narrative. Quinn’s groundbreaking novel follows Lucy, a woman […]
Patrick Ramsay is a queer Utah-based poet who was raised in and along the wetlands of the Great Salt Lake. He earned his B.A. in English & creative writing at Weber State University, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of Metaphor Literary Journal. He owns Happy Magpie Book & […]
David Pace was the inaugural literary editor for 15 Bytes for seven years. He is the author of the novel Dream House on Golan Drive (Signature Books) and the forthcoming collection of short fiction American Trinity (BCC Press, February 2024). His creative work has appeared in two anthologies […]
Ghost Apples, the ninth collection of poems by Katharine Coles – who might be a witch (IMHO) given the ready way she connects with animals (including her parrot Henri, pronounced in the American fashion) and who surely has a magical way with words and their readers — kept […]
Informally trained and largely self-taught, Angelika Brewer was taught to read, write and embrace her creativity by her teenage mother and her almost entirely blind grandmother. With encouragement from a high school English teacher, she discovered the world of Spoken Word Poetry. She has been a featured speaker […]
Artists of Utah is excited to announce that Cedar City writer and SUU professor Danielle Beazer Dubrasky has won the 2022 15 Bytes Book Award for Poetry. A graduate of Stanford (MA, English/Creative Writing) and the University of Utah (PhD, Creative Writing), Dubrasky is a three-time winner of […]
Artists of Utah is excited to announce the winner of this year’s 15 Bytes Book Award for Creative Nonfiction: Rob Carney. The Salt Lake City poet and Utah Valley University professor is the author of eight books of poetry. With Accidental Gardens, published by Stormbird Press, Carney updates […]
Artists of Utah is excited to announce that Salt Lake City author David Kranes is the recipient of this year’s 15 Bytes Book Award for Fiction. Kranes, a professor emeritus of English at the University of Utah, has published eight novels and three previous collections of short stories. Performance […]
Every time I see an acrylic print by Kate Jarvik Birch, I wonder why I haven’t already bought a triptych for my office. Her still lifes are eye-popping like old magazine illustrations. They’re often food-based and always turn up my lips.
After a short hiatus, we are excited to return to our READ LOCAL First series with three selections from Ogden poet Angelika Brewer. Informally trained and largely self-taught, Brewer was taught to read, write and embrace her creativity by her teenage mother and her almost entirely blind grandmother. […]
The Utah Division of Arts & Museums has announced Lisa Bickmore will be Utah’s new Poet Laureate. Established in 1997, the position is “a governor-appointed advocate for literature and the arts throughout the state, who presents in communities, schools, libraries, and public events,” according to the press release. […]
(Solve For) X, Katharine Coles’ latest collection, is loaded with lush work that is entirely captivating: I spent 10 weeks on the first poem alone — all eight lines of it. Immobilized by its wit and mesmerizing rhythm, its delightfully puzzling message — I couldn’t bear to move […]
I’m particularly interested in mysteries with no solution . . . . I work for myself, picking subjects and topics that intrigue me—despite the stress and grinding economic hardship that sometimes go along with it. It’s one of those trade-offs writers and artists make with the hope it […]
In addition to chapbooks and incidental publications, poet and Utah Valley University professor Rob Carney has published three volumes of poetry. His fourth and latest book, however, comprises 42 innovative prose chronicles, each suitable for dipping into to nourish and kick-start the imagination. Because the form of expository […]
This book of essays opens with a memory of a song sung by the writer’s grandmother. “A voice that could make people cry,” the writer writes. Her grandmother was asked to sing a popular song as an emotional blessing or benediction at a celebration of the Boulder (Hoover) […]
“I’m not the artist my family members are, but I write.” What Ashley Marie Farmer almost certainly means is that she never felt the sense of vocation that led her grandmother, mom, and sister to paint, her brother to shape pottery, and her grandfather to build a house […]
