Alex Beam, author of Wallace Stegner: Dean of Western Writers

Name: Alex Beam, author of Wallace Stegner: Dean of Western Writers
Start: 2025-10-20T15:00:00-06:00
Location: Marriott Library Learning Space 2753

Schedule

Mon, 20 Oct, 2025 at 03:00 pm

UTC-06:00

Location

Marriott Library Learning Space 2753 | Salt Lake City, UT

(Marriott Library Learning Space 2753)
American writer and journalist Alex Beam will speak about his new biography, Wallace Stegner: Dean of Western Writers, published by Signature Books.
Beam’s biography follows Wallace Stegner from his upbringing on the Canadian-American frontier and in Salt Lake City, to his prominent roles as novelist, essayist, teacher, and environmental advocate. The book examines Stegner’s time on the faculty of Stanford University, where he founded the Stegner Writing Fellowship, and his work with the Sierra Club and the U.S. Department of the Interior, including the authorship of the influential “Wilderness Letter” on the importance of open spaces. It also addresses the controversies and debates surrounding his career, including a plagiarism dispute over his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Angle of Repose. Stegner was a student at the University of Utah, graduating in 1930.
Beam has written extensively on literature, history, and culture. A longtime columnist for The Boston Globe, he has also worked for Newsweek and BusinessWeek. His nonfiction works include American Crucifixion: The Murder of Joseph Smith and the Fate of the Mormon Church (PublicAffairs); The Feud: Vladimir Nabokov, Edmund Wilson, and the End of a Beautiful Friendship (Pantheon); and Broken Glass: Mies van der Rohe, Edith Farnsworth, and the Fight Over a Modernist Masterpiece (Random House). His writing has also appeared in The Atlantic, Slate, and Forbes.
The Obert C. and Grace A. Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah supports academic research, public engagement, and educational programming in the humanities. Views expressed in events and programming do not represent the official views of the Center or University.