Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists who wrote about human tragedies, mental health professionals who heal towns and media innovators who tell stories through VR (virtual reality) – these are just a few of our speakers this year.
The Power of Storytelling is a conference about the connecting and healing capabilities of stories – no matter if we tell them in journalism, arts, entrepreneurship, or social change. And 2017 is an important year for stories. Our world is in turmoil. Wars are looming, anxieties are high, disparities and divisions are everywhere. Most of the stories we hear today are about chaos, fear, and unwanted change.
But good stories can also bridge the gap and give us a sense of a shared mission. This is why our 2017 theme is CLOSER. Our speakers will show us how to best explain the troubling realities of our age, how we can give a voice to those who haven’t been heard, how we can reaffirm our humanity through stories, and how, by learning about each other’s struggles, we can come closer.
The distinguished lineup this year includes Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists, an Oscar nominee, winners of National Magazine Awards, World Press Photo awards, and one MacArthur Genius Fellow. The combined skills of our speakers range from superstar investigative journalists who wrote books when they were as young as 16 and started their careers in war zones, doctors who cure mental health issues by rethinking urban life or who teach narrative medicine, and a media innovator who saw the storytelling potential of VR before other journalists and editors did.
For the full list of this year’s guests and their short bios, access this link or keep an eye on our News section on the website, where we’ll be presenting each of them throughout the summer.
This year also brings a new format for The Power of Storytelling, as the two-day conference will expand into a week-long festival. This means that in 2017 you’ll be able to choose between two types of passes to our events:
♦ The Conference pass (Oct. 20-21, ~165 Euros) includes the two-day conference hosted at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bucharest, during which our 11 speakers will get up on stage.
♦ The Festival pass (Oct. 16-22, ~220 Euros) includes The Conference, as well as other off-site events throughout the week: exhibits, film screenings, book launches, etc.
The registration process for The Conference and The Festival takes place on our website, through Eventbook.
It won‘t be long until we announce the schedule for the whole week. Keep an eye on the website around mid-August and, if you want to be among the first to receive updates, subscribe to our newsletter and social media accounts.
