The Stories We Tell, The Voices and Faces Project's two-day testimonial writing program for survivors of gender-based violence and other social injustices, is being offered virtually October 1 & 2, 2022, with the generous support of the Van Otterloo Family Foundation, and in partnership with USC's Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work and Center for Justice and Reconciliation.
During each Stories We Tell workshop a cohort of between 13-15 emerging and established writers and activists come together to read and discuss culture-changing literature and representation… take part in a series of innovative, real time writing exercises… share creative work in moderated, trauma-informed feedback sessions… and strategize on how to use our personal narratives to create political change. With a focus on memoir, fiction, non-fiction and poetry, The Stories We Tell was created to support those who seek to use writing as a vehicle for personal or political transformation.
Our award-winning storytelling program has traveled across the North American and African continents, training almost 1000 writers and activists. Facilitated by Voices and Faces Project founder Anne K. Ream, the author of Lived Through This, a memoir of her global journey spent listening to survivors of gender-based violence, and taught by novelist and Yale University creative writing instructor R. Clifton Spargo, it's not just training writers. It's changing lives. In Clare Gagne's own words:
|
❝My time spent with the Voices and Faces community is a memory I hold so dear. I remember the unease I felt going in… I would be unearthing a wound I hid for so long and using my favorite art form, writing, to wade my way through those painful memories. But Anne and Clifton managed to push as writers while also holding compassionate space for our truly heartbreaking stories. Although I live far away from most of my cohort from the workshop, I know that they, along with Anne and Clifton, will always be there for me if I need them. It was the first time I truly believed I was not alone in my experience, and that my story had value. It changed my life.”
|
