• A family reunion of descendants of Joseph Smith will be held this summer. Invitations have been sent to nearly 300 known descendants of the Joseph Smith Jr. line, many of whom are not members of the LDS Church. The reunion is being organized by the Joseph Smith Jr. Family Organization, under the direction of Mike Kennedy, president of the family organization and a great-great-grandson of Joseph Smith through his son Alexander Hale Smith.

• A CD titled "Joseph Country: Nashville Pays Tribute to Joseph Smith" will be released by Deseret Book in June. With songs written by Dan Truman, of Diamond Rio fame, and Jason Deere, who has worked with such artists as SheDaisy, Jessica Simpson and LeAnn Rimes, the CD will explore various aspects of the Prophet's life. Performers include David Osmond, Ryan Shupe, Mindy Gledhill and others; former baseball star Dale Murphy will add some narration.

• A conference "examining the religious, social and theological contributions" of Joseph Smith, titled "The Worlds of Joseph Smith" will be held at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., on May 6-7. For tickets and/or information go to josephsmithconference.byu.edu. This summer the Library of Congress will also sponsor an exhibit of historical documents from the library's own collection as well as materials added by the LDS Church and Brigham Young University.

• "Joseph Smith and the Prophetic Tradition," a conference examining the place of Joseph Smith in the "the larger arena of prophets and the prophetic word across various religious traditions," will be held Oct. 21-22 at Clarmont University in Claremont, Calif.

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E-mail: carma@desnews.com