Brian Evenson

Since 2016 he has taught in the School of Critical Studies at the California Institute of the Arts, both in the Creative Writing MFA program and in the Aesthetics and Politics MA Program.

Some of Evenson's work explores his Mormon heritage, often from a critical perspective or examining controversial subject matter. For example, the main character of The Open Curtain (2006) becomes preoccupied with a murder committed in the early 1900s by William Hooper Young, a grandson of 19th century Mormon leader Brigham Young, while Immobility (2012) takes place in a post-apocalyptic Utah and features some esoteric elements of LDS theology. Nonetheless, Evenson has asserted that he maintains a measure of respect for devout believers in the LDS Church and does not intend to casually offend or provoke them.

He received degrees from BYU (BA) and the University of Washington (MA and PhD). After leaving a teaching position at BYU, he held positions at Oklahoma State University, Syracuse University, and the University of Denver before being hired at Brown University. He was Professor of Literary Arts at Brown from 2003 to 2015.

While teaching at BYU, Evenson was involved in a controversy surrounding his first book Altmann's Tongue (1994). While a new professor of creative writing at Brigham Young University (BYU), Brian Evenson published Altmann's Tongue, which included horrific violence such as characters who are forced to eat mutilated tongues and who attempt to cut off their own limbs. Evenson stated that his book contract was a "significant factor" in his being hired, and he included some stories from the collection in his application. A graduate student complained anonymously to church leaders that the work promoted the "enjoyment" of violence, while Evenson argued that his fiction accentuated violence to show its horror and "thus allow it to be condemned." A senior faculty member planned to tell church authorities that Evenson knew that future, similar publications would "bring repercussions," even though Evenson had not said this. Evenson resigned from BYU in 1995, and left the church formally in 2000. His case, along with others, was included in a report by the American Association of University Professors, which argued that academic freedom was stifled at BYU.

Brian Evenson (born August 12, 1966) is an American academic and writer of both literary fiction and popular fiction, some of the latter being published under B.K. Evenson. His fiction is often described as literary minimalism, but also draws inspiration from horror, weird fiction, detective fiction, science fiction and continental philosophy. Evenson makes frequent use of dark humor and often features characters struggling with the limits and consequences of knowledge. He has also written non-fiction, and translated several books by French-language writers into English.

Brian Evenson was born August 12, 1966 in Ames, Iowa. His father, William Evenson, was a longtime professor of physics at Brigham Young University (BYU) and later an administrator at the same school. As a young man, Brian Evenson served a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in France and Switzerland.