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Developed to help those who have lived through or witnessed gender-based violence or other human rights violations use their voices, faces, and stories to call the public to greater compassion and — more importantly — social action, our Center for Story & Witness (formerly The Voices and Faces Project) testimonial writing program is supporting a new generation of activists seeking to use story to create social change. We're not just training writers. We're creating a global community.
We ground each of our writing workshops in a simple belief: That we are here to be heard.
During each immersive, two-day Stories We Tell testimonial writing workshop, a cohort of emerging and established artists, writers, activists, and survivors come together to read and discuss culture-changing literature from across history and various social justice movements…take part in a series of innovative, real-time writing exercises…and share creative work in moderated, expert-led workshopping sessions. Over 1300 writers from across the African and North American continents have graduated from our writing program.
Media neutral and genre inclusive, with a focus on memoir, fiction, poetry, non-fiction, op ed, and essay writing, our trauma-informed and creatively ambitious program was created to support survivors of injustice who seek to use their personal stories to create political change.
Meet our workshop co-creators, Anne K. Ream and R. Clifton Spargo.
Our testimonial writing program was co-created by novelist R. Clifton Spargo, a lecturer in creative writing at Yale University and graduate of the acclaimed Iowa Writers' Workshop, and activist Anne K. Ream, author of Lived Through This, her memoir of a global journey spent listening to survivors of gender-based violence.
THE STORIES WE TELL:
A testimonial writing workshop for survivors and witnesses to gender-based violence.
October 11 & 12, 2025
The Jackson School at Yale
New Haven, CT
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