Jeremy Pugh

Jeremy Pugh is a Salt Lake City-based writer, editor and author who has spent more than two decades chronicling Utah and the American West, with a particular focus on travel, food and drink, culture, history and the outdoors.

For nearly 20 years, Pugh was an editor at Salt Lake magazine, including many years as Executive Editor, where he wrote and edited hundreds of stories about the people, places, restaurants, cultural institutions and peculiarities that define life in Utah. In 2026, his editorial work at Salt Lake was recognized with multiple first-place Society of Professional Journalists awards, spanning longform storytelling, general features, food and drink, arts and entertainment, government reporting, solutions journalism and the magazine’s Utah Lore series. Salt Lake also earned second place for Best Magazine. He is now Executive Editor of Salt Lake Metropolitan, a new city and regional publication covering life along the Wasatch Front.

As a freelance writer, Pugh has contributed to Condé Nast Traveller, Lonely Planet, SKI and Range, covering destinations, outdoor recreation, food and drink, history and culture. He is currently writing Frommer’s forthcoming guide to Utah.

Pugh is the author of 100 Things to Do in Salt Lake City Before You Die and Secret Salt Lake. The former is a guide to essential—and occasionally unexpected—experiences in his hometown; the latter digs into the strange stories, hidden history and weird ephemera of Utah’s capital city.

A longtime Salt Lake City resident, Pugh has spent much of his career exploring Utah, from its urban neighborhoods and ski towns to its national parks, desert backroads and small communities. His work is particularly interested in the characters, history and oddities that give places their identity.

He lives in Salt Lake City and continues to write about Utah, the West and destinations farther afield. His work can be found at VeryDynamite.com.