2021/2022

Art and Storytelling

The Art and Storytelling project is returning for a 3rd phase this Fall 2021!

In partnership with Understory Magazine and the Alexa McDonough Institute for Women, Gender and Social Justice, IMWAH is inviting 12 self-identified immigrant and migrant women to explore the topic of personal or given names through creative writing.

The project will be hosted from 7-9pm on Wednesdays between September 29th - December 1st, 2021.

Format and content of the program:

Over the course of ten weeks, you will participate in weekly online readings and creative writing sessions hosted by Dr. Rohini Bannerjee and María José Yax-Fraser and guided by authors and storytellers Sheree Fitch and Evelyn C. White. You will have the opportunity to craft a non-fiction creative writing piece for publication. These sessions will be centered on names in the context of immigrant migrant women’s lived experiences: the importance of maintaining our chosen or birth names, imposed changes to our names, pressure to adapt our names post-immigration, and related topics.

A set of books will be provided to you to participate in group readings. You will have the opportunity to submit your writing piece to be featured in an upcoming issue of Understory Magazine or other selected collection.

Book Titles

Alma and How She Got Her Name (Martinez-Neal, Juana) 

Call Me Aram (Skrypuch, Marsha Forchuk)

The Girl with Seven Names a North Korean Defector's Story (Lee, Hyeonseo) 

Matthew A.B.C (Catalanotto, Peter)

My Name is Jorge: On Both Sides of the River (Jane Medina)

My Name is Maria Isabel (Flor Ada, Alma)

My Name is Sangoel (Williams, Karen Lynn)

My Name is Yoon (Recorvits, Helen)

The Name Jar (Choi, Yangsook)

Your Name is a Song (Thompkins-Bigelow)