An Interview with the Editors of The Book of Once Mormon Women

The Book of Once Mormon Women is a compilation of essays by women who have left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I was to interview the two editors, Katie Stringham and Sue Johnson. This moment was everything I was not, which was male and LDS.

With a smile and a skip, I walked into the hipster tea shop and met Stringham and Johnson. They were sharp, confident and incredible. We made small talk about our families, various failed entrepreneurial experiments and whether I’d order anything. I did not.

Sadly, the small talk evaporated, and the interview began. Like most interviews, this one started with words. Their words hummed around them like layers of power, and all I could do was try not to sound stupid. Somehow, I held it together, and I only stuttered and stumbled through most of my sentences.

When I ask how they found their contributors, Stringham responds, “I followed post-Mormon women on social media. Over the years, I read their works and bought their books, listened to their podcasts and then met a few of them. It’s a pretty strong community of women doing this work, so it kind of naturally builds itself. As one contributor said they were in, I’d emailed another, and it just emerged from there.”

When asked what they hope LDS members learn from their book, I found Stringham‘s answer stunning. “We have a target audience, and it’s women who’ve left the Church. That is our audience, and we’re very clear about that. We hope this book will reach women who’ve left and who are struggling with the endless difficulty of that decision, and it’s really to support women who’ve left.”

THEY WROTE A BOOK AS A SUPPORT GROUP FOR WOMEN! My world re-righted itself as I realized that despite our differing beliefs, we still shared values. I’d been expecting a difficult interview with people who were smarter than me, sassy and incalculably witty, and they were! Just not in the way or for the reasons I’d imagined.

Stringham says further, “It was the hardest, most painful thing I’ve ever experienced, leaving the Church, and I needed to know that I wasn’t alone and that I could connect with other women who were going through the same thing and just hear their stories and share my struggles, and there was so much healing for them.”

Johnson chimes in, saying, “There is no agenda to make the Church, or staunch Church members, do anything. This is for the women who have left to let them know there is support… to talk about the challenges. No one is claiming to have anything figured out or to have an ultimate truth. It’s simply sharing your story and talking about what was challenging, where you’ve grown and what you’ve learned… That’s the mission of the book.” 

I asked what they wanted readers to do after reading the book. Johnson hopes it would encourage readers to write their own essays and add their voices to the conversation. Stringham indicates the contributors had written their stories to promote healing and forward movement – that by writing their stories, the hurts begin to heal.

I liked this idea. Their book wasn’t asking anyone to provide answers; it simply made room to ‌speak through what you’ve gone through. I’d walked in stressing about oppositional beliefs. Instead, I met two rockstars creating space for women to discuss loss, change and what comes next. This had been their first interview, and they’d been just as nervous about me as I’d been nervous about them. 

The Book of Once Mormon Women comes out on Nov. 30, 2026.

Read more about local writers here:
A Bad Deal in Mormon Land: T.I.M. Wirkus’ Novel Hits Close to Home – SLUG Magazine
Her Kind: Sophie Lefens’ Debut Novel and Mystical Maternity

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