LDSPMA

Empowering Latter-day Saints to spread light and truth by connecting them at the intersection of faith, creativity, and professional skill

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Member Spotlight: Devan Jensen!

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Our member spotlight this week is Devan Jensen of Orem, Utah. He is the current President of the Latter-day Saint Publishing and Media Association.

What are the books/products you’ve created?

As an author, I have written about fifty articles on people and topics in church history. These include Philo Dibble, C. C. A. Christensen, Shoshone history, and the Utah War. In addition, I also wrote God’s Greatest Gifts: 10 Reasons to Rejoice. I compiled Best-Loved Poems of the LDS People, Poems That Lift the Soul, Gradguide, and Latter-day Saint Essentials. I’m working with Rose Ram to write a book called Saints of Micronesia. (I served as a missionary in Micronesia.)

As an editor at the BYU Religious Studies Center, I have edited thousands of articles and chapters. I also manage social media for BYU Religious Education, BYU Religious Studies Center, Church History News, Religious Educator, and Pohnpei Church History.

What inspired you to become a writer/editor?

My parents and elementary school librarians hooked me on reading and inspired me to become a writer. Only later did I realize that editing could become a career.

What has been the highlight of your career so far?

A repeated highlight has been traveling with friends to research or to present papers, especially on Pacific history. My favorite places to travel have included New Zealand, Samoa, Tahiti, Guam, Chuuk, Taiwan, and Washington, DC.

Another real highlight is working with Pacific scholars to write a history of Micronesia that will go in the Yigo Guam Temple.

What was the best advice you’ve ever been given in your creative work?

A grab bag of many years of advice:

  • Find the empty spot on the shelf and write for that audience.
  • Ask good research questions.
  • Pluck the low-hanging fruit of the internet and libraries. Then visit archives to dig into original research.
  • Network with other scholars and refine your work through informal peer review and then formal peer review.
What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

Pay the price of learning to become an expert in your field.

What keeps you inspired in your daily creative work?

Traveling with friends to research or present papers is a huge motivating factor. I hope to travel to New York in 2021 to present at the Mormon History Association conference. I would like to visit the Yigo Guam Temple dedication.

What would you like others to know about you?

Like so many of you, I have a voracious appetite for learning, and for challenging my preexisting assumptions. My Facebook page shares my aspirations: As a writer and editor, I’m shaping a more just and sustainable community, nation, and world.

My wife, Patty, and I live in Orem, Utah. We have four children and an adorable granddaughter. I like to ride my electric bike all over Utah Valley. I perform magic tricks and like to sing and play the piano and ukulele.

Tell us about your work!

I enjoy helping authors to publish and helping promote their work. I have more than thirty years of experience working with books, journals, magazines, newsletters, websites, and social media. I’m volunteering as the president of the Latter-day Saint Publishing and Media Association (LDSPMA), which I helped to found.

I was hired in 2001 at the BYU Religious Studies Center. Since then I have led talented teams to edit about 250 books or book-length projects, which has garnered many awards.

I have been an adjunct instructor of business writing, editing, and religion for BYU and Utah Valley University. Also, I have been an editor for the Ensign magazine, Church Publishing Services Department, and Deseret Book Company. I have presented at BYU Education Week, Latter-day Saint Publishing and Media Association, Mormon History Association Conference, Sons of Utah Pioneers, Pacific History Association, and Utah State History Conference. As a National Merit Scholar, I received my BA (cum laude) and MA degrees in English from BYU.

Do you have a website?

BYU Religious Studies Center, my personal blog and the Pohnpei Church History Blog.

Where can we find you on social media?