Nikole Hannah-Jones: “Choosing a School for My Daughter in a Segregated City“, an outstanding piece on how Nikole and her husband decided to send their daughter to a “bad” public school, instead of the “good” ones they could afford as middle-class parents. Nikole’s complex work on racial segregation is so important that it recently got here a MacArthur Fellowship.
Sarah Stillman: “The Invisible Army“, a stunning and thoroughly reported piece about the conditions in which “third-country nationals” lived and worked in American units in Afghanistan and Iraq, for which Sarah won a National Magazine award for excellence in reporting for the public good.
Thomas French: “Angels&Demons“, the chilling story of the murder of a woman and her two daughters, and the investigation that followed, which won Tom a Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing. He also wrote, together with his wife, Juniper, a touching memoir about the premature birth of their daughter. You can meet Tom at an event celebrating the launch of the Romanian translation of Juniper by Editura Publica.
Elie Gardner: This TEDx talk in which the Pulitzer Prize nominee talks about her path to becoming a photojournalist and how travelling with refugees profoundly changed her way of seeing life. Watch also Elie’s video story of a young refugee from Syria who dreamed of playing the violin, but had to give it up in order to secure a better future for her brother.
Finbarr O’Reilly: “After Combat: A Photographer and a Marine Find Common Ground”, Finbarr’s article about how the process of writing a book about the psychological costs of war helped him and Sgt. Thomas James Brennan, his co-author, cope with the post-war trauma. Shooting Ghosts, the unique joint memoir that explores the residual effects of war, was recently published and will be available at the conference.
Jenna Pirog: The Displaced, a virtual reality film that immerses the viewer in the lives of three child refugees from South Sudan, eastern Ukraine, and Syria, displaced from their homes by war. Nominated for an Emmy and winner of first prize in Innovative Storytelling at World Press Photo 2016, it’s the first VR film produced for New York Times by Jenna, a pioneer in applying the storytelling power of virtual reality to journalism.
Pat Walters: Uncivil, the newest history podcast from Gimlet Media, a series of unknown stories about the conflict that built American society and made it what it is today – The Civil War. You can find out more about the basic skills needed to make your first podcast from Pat in an insightful show&tell session on October 18.
Jacqui Banaszynski: If this is your first time to the conference, than “AIDS in the Heartland”, the Pulitzer winner series about the life and death of an AIDS victim in a rural farm community, is a must. Also, to better understand Jacqui’s pioneering work as a female journalist, we also recommend her #Story16 speech on not letting gender define your dreams.
Murray Nossel & Paul Browde: Oscar nominated filmmaker Murray Nossel and psychiatrist Paul Browde, who co-founded Narativ, a company that offers listening and storytelling trainings for businesses, talk in this TEDx video about the importance of listening in shaping the stories we tell. Murray and Paul also created and star in the unscripted live show Two Men Talking, a deeply personal research of identity, friendship, mortality and forgiveness, which they’ll perform on the #Story17 stage.
Mindy Fullilove: “An Antidote for the Unjust City: Planning to Stay“, in which Mindy, a psychiatrist who studies the connection between the environment and mental health, writes about how she started her research with her own hometown, Orange, NJ, and the need to live in a healthy, reliable environment.
Valeriu Nicolae: “Nu mai sunt activist rom“, an article in which Valeriu, a social change-maker who displays an impressive resume and a fierce determination to help people in need, especially Roma communities, explains why he decided to give up being a Roma activist. (A shorter English version on his blog).
Vera Ion: Watch an interview with the Romania-based playwright and theater maker about her experience with Romanian arts school. She is also a co-founder of Write Yourself – a network of people who learn to write and perform their own personal stories, regardless of their previous artistic experience and/or cultural background.
