Linda King Newell
Linda King Newell was a writer and historian. She is the author or co-author of four books, most notably Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith with Valeen Tippetts Avery. The book won the Evans Award for the Best Biography in Western History, the Mormon History Association’s Best Book Award, and the John Whitmer Historical Association Best Biography Award. A revised edition was published in 1994 by the University of Illinois Press and remains in print. In 2016, the Wall Street Journal listed it as second among the five best books on Mormon history and culture. “This meticulously-researched biography of the first wife of Joseph Smith, the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, provided groundbreaking insight into the beginnings of the church and the practice of polygamy from a woman's perspective.”[1]
She served as co-editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought with her husband, Jack, from 1982 to 1987. She wrote histories of Millard, Garfield, and Piute counties for Utah’s centennial in 1996. She was a series editor for University of Utah Press, development director for the Utah Humanities Council, and director of special projects at Deep Springs College located near Bishop, California. She was president of the Mormon History Association from 1996-1997.
Linda was born on January 16, 1941, in rural Utah. She attended the College of Southern Utah (now Southern Utah University) and earned her bachelor’s degree in art and education from Utah State University. She worked summers during her college years for the Utah Parks at Bryce Canyon National Park and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. She and her husband, L. Jackson Newell, met there and later became the parents of four children.
She was also an accomplished artist in watercolors and oils. She also established an artist and writer retreat near Zion National Park. In honor of her decades of work to make the retreat center come to life, one of the residency cabins is named the "Linda King Newell House of Grand Dreams."
She was a founding member of the Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah, and a proud member and President of the Utah PEO Chapter A.
She died on February 12, 2023.
