Voice of Witness’s latest oral history book, Solito, Solita, has been shortlisted for the Juan E. Méndez Book Award for Human Rights in Latin America. Solito, Solita (“Alone, Alone”) is an urgent collection of oral histories that tells – in their own words – the stories of young refugees fleeing countries in Central America and [...]
Ten years ago, Voice of Witness began its journey as a nonprofit organization, with the vision to bring the critical oral histories of marginalized communities to audiences nationwide. On September 18, 2019, we brought these stories to the stage at Brave Stories, Bold Movements, a celebration of this milestone year for Voice of [...]
Since 2015, the VOW Education Program's Sharing History Initiative has supported passionate and underfunded teachers, storytellers, and community leaders in bringing social justice-based storytelling into their communities. Thanks to the generosity of the Germanacos Foundation, we are able to provide specialized support to select Sharing History participants through the Germanacos Fellowship established last year. The Germanacos Fellowship for [...]
Wishing Natalie Catasús un futuro lleno de éxitos! Please join us in wishing a heartfelt bon voyage! to Natalie Catasús, who has served as VOW’s Resource Development Associate for the past two years. This summer, Natalie will be heading to Emory University in Atlanta, where she’ll be starting her PhD in Comparative [...]
Introducing Dao X. Tran (left), our new managing editor, and saying goodbye to Luke Gerwe (right) after four and a half years of amazing work. It’s a bittersweet time for the Voice of Witness team as we bid farewell to one of our amazing staff members (and welcome a fantastic new member [...]
VOW Education Program Director Cliff Mayotte, Pendarvis Harshaw, and VOW Education Associate Erin Vong at a reading and book-signing for OG Told Me at Oaklandish in Oakland, California on April 2, 2017. The VOW education team has been developing a new book called The Voice of Witness Oral History Handbook: Approaches, Methodologies, and Practices (formerly titled [...]
In an interview with PBS Book View Now, VOW's executive director and co-founder Mimi Lok spoke about VOW's work at the intersection of literature and human rights. The interview took place at the 2017 Associated Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference in Washington D.C., where over 12,000 writers gathered for panels, workshops, [...]
Author Amy Hassinger (left) featured High Rise Stories on a recent episode of The Literary Life. Amy reads from the book's introduction by VOW editor Audrey Petty (center). Voice of Witness hit the airwaves this month on The Literary Life, a weekly micro-podcast on all things writing and literature-related, hosted by author Amy Hassinger. The episode [...]
For over five decades, Colombia has been embroiled in internal armed conflict among guerrilla groups, paramilitary militias, and the country’s own military. Civilians in Colombia have faced a range of abuses from all sides, including killings, disappearances, and rape—and more than four million have been forced to flee their homes. As the crisis [...]
Voice of Witness Demonstrates the Unparalleled Power of Story to Catalyze Dialogue September 30, 2016 By Sophie Lee at The Whitman Institute This article was originally published by our good friends and long-time supporters at The Whitman Institute (TWI). We are extremely grateful for TWI's ongoing support of the work we do, and for their commitment [...]
