Story Exchange

Tuesday, May 21, 2019 
6:00 – 8:30 pm
Roble Dorm
RSVP at bit.ly/stanfordstoryexchange

Story Exchange is an interactive and immersive storytelling workshop to empower students and staff looking to deepen their relationships and contribute to more empathetic community in and around campus. We’ll acquire storytelling tools to engage more authentically and feel more centered in our lives. Learn how to bring these perspectives back to your campus communities to nurture deep human capacities like empathy. Free dinner will be provided.

These workshops are hosted by the Stanford Storytelling Project, the Lifeworks Program for Integrative Learning, and Narrative 4.


Mythologizing Release Party

Tuesday, May 21, 2019 
3:30 PM Hume Center, Room 201

Come listen to Mythologizing, the latest episode of the Stanford Storytelling Project’s podcast, State of the Human.


Words and Silences: An Evening with Naomi Shihab Nye and Ryushin Paul Haller

Friday, March 8, 2019
7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Cubberly Auditorium

How can we stay true to what we care about through the words and silences of our everyday lives? Join award-winning poet Naomi Shihab Nye and Ryushin Paul Haller, former abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center, for an evening that will bring together poetic and contemplative traditions to explore how simple engagements with language and stillness can help us find not only our place and path and but also draw us close to blessings beyond knowing. Discover with these two renowned teachers how to belong to your own lexicon, engage intimately with silence, and listen to yourself and all that is given.

Naomi Shihab Nye describes herself as a “wandering poet”, having spent 40 years traveling the country and the world to lead writing workshops and inspiring students of all ages. Drawing on her Palestinian-American heritage, the cultural diversity of her home in Texas, and her travels, Nye uses her writing to attest to our shared humanity. She is the author or editor of more than thirty volumes of poetry, essays, and stories and has received many awards, including a Lavan Award from the Academy of American Poets, the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award, and four Pushcart Prizes. Her collection 19 Varieties of Gazelle was a finalist for the National Book Award.

Ryushin Paul Haller is a senior teacher and former abbot at the San Francisco Zen Center. Originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland, he teaches throughout the U.S. and Europe and has led mindfulness programs to assist with mental illness and recovery. He has also helped bring contemplative practices into many communities, including prisons and schools, and has had a long involvement with the Zen Hospice Project.


What The Future Holds: A Conversation with Author Walter Mosley

May 15, 2018 | 7 – 8:30 pm
CEMEX Auditorium
Free and open to the public. General admission, no reservations required.

Novelist and social commentator Walter Mosley is one of the most powerful and prolific writers working in any genre today. He is the author of more than 40 books, ranging from the crime novel to literary fiction, nonfiction, political essay, young adult, and science fiction.

After a short reading by Mosley, he will be in conversation with Scott Hutchins, lecturer in Creative Writing. Topics will include Mosley’s views on writing, the state of the union, and his approaches for imagining the future. A Q&A will follow the conversation. Books will be available for purchase and signing.

Novelist and social commentator WALTER MOSLEY is one of the most powerful and prolific writers working in any genre today. He is the author of more than 40 books, ranging from the crime novel to literary fiction, nonfiction, political essay, young adult, and science fiction. The New York Review of Books called him “a literary master as well as a master of mystery,” and The Boston Globe declared him “one of the nation’s finest writers.”

Mosley’s fiction tracks the African American experience from the migration from the Deep South to post-Obama election-era New York City. His characters are the sorts of “fully formed, complex black men who have been absent from much of contemporary literature,” he says.

Several of Mosley’s books have been adapted for film and television, with new projects in development at FX, Cinemax, and HBO. To adapt his works for television and feature films, Mosley teamed up with producer Diane Houslin to create his own production house, Best of Brooklyn Filmhouse.  With over a dozen entries, his Easy Rawlins detective series began with Devil in a Blue Dress, which was made into a feature film starring Denzel Washington. His latest Rawlins mystery, Charcoal Joe, was released in June 2016.

His upcoming novel, Down the River Unto the Sea, centers on a former New York City police detective turned Brooklyn PI, and is slated for a February 2018 release.

The first African-American to serve on the board of directors of the National Book Awards, Mosley has received an O’Henry Award, The Sundance Risktaker Award, a Grammy, and two NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Literary Work. In 2016, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Annual Edgar Awards and was named the first African-American “Grand Master” by the Mystery Writers of America.


An Evening with Brandon Stanton

Wed, April 4, 2018 | 7:00 – 8:30 pm PDT
CEMEX Auditorium

Brandon Stanton shares his journey of personal growth and discovery, and uncovers the stories behind the stories featured on Humans of New York, powerfully illustrating the value of sharing your experiences.

As the founder of the street portrait blog, Humans of New York, Brandon has emerged as a worldwide Internet phenomenon and one of today’s most influential storytellers. With millions of social media followers, his individual story, like those on HONY, illustrates the power of the Internet, the value of storytelling, and our desire to remain connected with real people in a tech-driven world.

Brandon’s gift for storytelling has since spawned two best-selling books, “Humans of New York,” which spent 45 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list, and “Humans of New York: Stories,” released in 2015. On stage, he candidly shares his own personal story, and the perspective he has gained since embarking on his journey to help others tell theirs. Listeners take away a renewed appreciation for the power of one person and one idea to inspire millions, and encouragement to be a force for good and contribute something meaningful to the world.


Food, Memoir, and Narrative: The Story Only You Can Tell

Veronica Chambers poster

Tuesday, March 6, 2018
 7:00 pm
Hewlett 200
Admission is free and open to all.

Veronica Chambers is a a four-time New York Times best-selling author who specializes in creativity and collaboration. In this talk, she’ll discuss her James Beard award-winning collaborations with chefs such as Marcus Samuelsson, Eric Ripert and her most recent cookbook project, Between Harlem and Heaven which she co-wrote with Harlem chefs JJ Johnson and Alexander Smalls. She’ll also talk about the Earth Systems class she is teaching at Stanford this quarter, “Environmental and Food System Journalism,” and how food writing can open the door to explorations of culture, history and identity.

Additional details and map are available on the Stanford Event Calendar.


The Art of Editing with Julia Barton and Sam Greenspan

Poster with Julia Barton and Sam Greenspan

Join the Stanford Storytelling Project for a special conversation between radio veterans Julia Barton and Sam Greenspan.

Julia Barton is an award-winning radio editor, reporter, and writer. Currently, she edits Revisionist History with Malcolm Gladwell. Her reporting has aired on 99$ Invisible, Radiolab, and elsewhere.

Sam Greenspan is a visiting staffer at the Stanford Storytelling Project. Previously, he was the managing producer at 99% Invisible, where he worked on a number of stories with Julia. Sam is currently developing a new podcast, Bellwether.


An Evening with Rebecca Skloot and members of the Henrietta Lacks Family

Skloot and Lacks Family Poster

Thursday, April 19, 2018 
7:30pm
CEMEX Auditorium
Tickets required

Join us for an evening with both Rebecca Skloot and members of the Lacks family to discuss the story of Henrietta Lacks, the subject of Skloot’s best-selling book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

Seating is limited. Tickets went on sale for Stanford students and the Stanford community Monday, Jan 29 at noon, and and will go on sale for the general public Wednesday, Jan 31 at noon. Reserve a ticket here.

The event is sponsored by the Stanford Storytelling Project, Stanford Continuing Studies, the Center for Biomedical Ethics, and the Medicine & the Muse Program in Medical Humanities & the Arts.


StoryNight, Fall 2017

StoryNight Poster

Wednesday, December 6, 2017
7pm and 9pm
Elliott Program Center
Free and open to the public. RSVP on Facebook.

Ever wondered what incredible stories your peers might have?
Or what lead them to where they are at now?

Join us for an unforgettable evening of live storytelling on Wednesday December 6th at the Elliott Program Center! Students will perform stories they’ve developed throughout the quarter in the course StoryCraft, taught by TAPS faculty and improv guru Dan Klein and director Michelle Darby.

There are two shows, one at 7pm and another at 9pm (each one hour long), featuring different students. Come to both if you can!

StoryNight is free and open to the public. Come early: hot chocolate and chai will be served before the performance!