Join us on Saturday 9/6 for a Printers Row Lit Fest dialogue featuring Ruchira Gupta, Jimmie Briggs, Anne K. Ream & R. Clifton Spargo.

Anne K. Ream, R. Clifton Spargo, Jimmie Briggs, and Ruchira Gupta, featured panelist at Printers Row Lit Fest.

Using Story to Change the World, and Transform Ourselves: Join us for a Printers Row Lit Fest dialogue featuring Ruchira Gupta, Jimmie Briggs, Anne K. Ream & R. Clifton Spargo.

We know from history and social justice movements that stories are among our most powerful tools for creating social change.

But how does the act of sharing the truths we’ve lived or witnessed alter the person doing the truth-telling? What impact can “activist storytelling” have on personal healing? How do we challenge those who seek to “disappear” stories that speak truth to power during times of high political conflict?

And how can you discover the storyteller within?

We invite you to explore these and other questions during Using Story to Change the World, and Transform Ourselves, a Center for Story & Witness dialogue at Printers Row Lit Fest, the Midwest’s largest literary and ideas festival.

Our panel discussion features Emmy Award-winning activist and Young Adult novelist Ruchira Gupta (Girls Bazaar); human rights journalist and Vanity Fair contributor Jimmie Briggs (We’re All George Floyd Now); and our Center for Story & Witness co-founders, author and activist Anne K Ream (Lived Through This: Listening to the Storie of Sexual Violence Survivors), and novelist and Yale University Lecturer in Creative Writing R. Clifton Spargo (Beautiful Fools: The Last Affair of Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald).

We look forward to having you join us for this powerful, purposeful Printers Row Lit Fest dialogue. See you there!

USING STORY TO CHANGE THE WORLD, AND TRANSFORM OURSELVES: A DIALOGUE

Saturday, September 6, 2025 | 4:00 PM

Joesph & Bessie Feinberg Foundation Stage

S. Dearborn St. and Polk St.

LEARN MORE ABOUT PRINTERS ROW LIT FEST >

Center for Story & Witness testimonial writing workshop in Toronto, Canada.

Our writing workshop for survivors of gender-based violence is coming to 5 US cities this fall. Apply now!

Apply today for The Stories We Tell, Center for Story & Witness’s award-winning testimonial writing program for those who have lived through or witnessed gender-based violence. During this immersive, two-day testimonial writing workshop, a cohort of survivors, witnesses, writers, and activists come together to read and discuss culture-changing literature … take part in a series of innovative, real-time writing exercises … and share creative work in moderated, trauma-informed workshop sessions.

Media neutral and genre inclusive, this workshop was created to support those who seek to use their testimonial voice as a vehicle for personal or political transformation. With a focus on memoir, fiction, non-fiction, spoken word, and poetry the workshop is led by Center for Story & Witness co-founders R. Clifton Spargo and Anne K. Ream. We cannot wait to be in community with you!

WHEN	WHERE	HOST
September 13&14	Dallas, TX	The Jensen Project
October 3&4	Washington, DC	National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
October 11&12	New Haven, CT	The Jackson School at Yale University
October 25&26	New York City, NY	Sanctuary for Families
November 8&9	Los Angeles, CA	FreeFrom

APPLY FOR AN UPCOMING WORKSHOP >

UPCOMING EVENTS

THE HAROLD WASHINGTON LITERARY AWARDS:

Honoring Sandra Cisneros. Presented by the Near South Planning Board

September 4, 2025

The Union League of Chicago

65 West Jackson

Chicago, IL

BUY TICKETS >

THE STORIES WE TELL:

A testimonial writing workshop for survivors of gender-based violence.

Co-led by Anne K. Ream and R. Clifton Spargo.

September 13 & 14, 2025

The Jensen Project

Dallas, TX

APPLY >

FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE & JOY:

How survivors of gender-based violence are changing the world, and themselves, by sharing their stories. A keynote presentation by Anne K. Ream.

September 30, 2025

ICASA Statewide Conference

Springfield, IL

THE STORIES WE TELL:

A testimonial writing workshop for survivors of gender-based violence.

Co-led by Anne K. Ream and R. Clifton Spargo.

October 3 & 4, 2025

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

Washington, DC

October 11 & 12, 2025

The Jackson School at Yale University

New Haven, CT

APPLY >

BEARING WITNESS:

The Art and Ethics of Using Story to Create Social Change. A panel discussion featuring Janine di Giovanni, Mariam El Marakeshy, David Morse, Anne K. Ream, and R. Clifton Spargo.

October 13, 2025 | 5:00 PM

GM Room at Horchow Hall

Jackson School of Global Affairs, Yale University

New Haven, CT

THE STORIES WE TELL:

A testimonial writing workshop for survivors of gender-based violence.

Co-led by Anne K. Ream and R. Clifton Spargo.

October 25 & 26, 2025

Sanctuary for Families

New York City, NY

November 8 & 9, 2025

FreeFrom

Los Angeles, CA

APPLY >

FULL LIST OF EVENTS >

ABOUT CENTER FOR STORY & WITNESS

At Center for Story & Witness (formerly The Voices and Faces Project) our mission is to cultivate and share stories that bear witness to gender-based violence and other social injustices in order to change minds, hearts, and public policies. Through our testimonial writing workshops, our narrative advocacy trainings, and our performances, publications and campaigns, we seek to create measurable social change through the power of narrative.

For 16 years, we have been awarded the America’s Best Charities Seal of Excellence, a designation given to organizations that meet the highest standards of public accountability and program/cost effectiveness.

WRITING WORKSHOPS

ADVOCACY TRAININGS

GET INVOLVED