Sharing stories – narrating our own and listening to others’ – is intrinsic to our humanity. Stories hold great power, yet the art of storytelling (and story-receiving) requires humility, vulnerability, recognition of our limits. How do our own experiences of living on the margin enhance our ability to connect?

Leah Hager Cohen is the author of five novels and five works of non-fiction. Among the honors she has received are nominations for the Orange Prize, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Her novel The Grief of Others was adapted into a film of the same name, which had its international premiere at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. She has been a frequent contributor to the New York Times Book Review and is the Barrett Professor of Creative Writing at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Presented by IRWG, the Helen Zell Creative Writing Program, the Department of English, UM Initiative on Disability Studies, the University Library, the Institute for the Humanities, and the UM Council for Disability Concerns.