Thank you for applying to The Stories We Tell.

How do we create lasting social change? One powerful, purposeful story at a time. The Stories We Tell is an immersive, two-day testimonial writing program that was developed by Center for Story & Witness (formerly The Voices and Faces Project) to help those who have lived through or witnessed gender-based violence or other human rights violations use their stories to call the public to greater compassion and social action.

During The Stories We Tell, participants discuss world-changing testimonial writing from various social movements and genres and take part in a series of innovative, real-time writing exercises. We seek to support emerging and established storytellers, activists, and direct service providers as they think about what testimonial writing is and why it matters. We help workshop participants imagine how they can most effectively carry forward the work of witness. Above all, we encourage the creativity of our participants, leading them to find new sources of personal and political power within themselves.

We’re not just training writers. We’re creating community.

Our trauma-informed creative writing instructor and workshop facilitator are media neutral and genre-inclusive. We explore poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, memoir, spoken word, playwriting, and speechwriting, and encourage work in all these areas. Most important, we focus on creating a community of activists who wish to share their stories. The power of the stories emerging from The Stories We Tell is twofold. They call the public to an honest accounting of gender-based violence, and they attest to the strength that survivors find in a safe, creatively challenging community.