The inaugural Changemaker Authors Conference was held virtually over two-days. Sessions were curated to orient movement folks to the publishing industry and the process of writing a book. Featured speakers included award-winning authors, publishing professionals, and activists discussing how a book can transform a sociopolitical narrative, what to expect when writing about personal and community trauma, and other elements of authoring social change.
The Conference also served as the beginning of the new cycle for the Changemaker Authors Cohort. You can watch the prerequisite Info Session on the Cohort here. Applicants for the Changemaker Authors Cohort must either attend or watch the Info Session before applying for the 2023-24 Cohort. The next live Info Session will be held on Zoom on June 1 at 5pm Pacific Time/8pm Eastern Time. You can register for the June 1st Info Session here.
The Code of Conduct for the Conference can be found here.
Titles from Conference speakers can be found on Narrative Initiative's Bookshop Affiliate page.
Key upcoming dates
Changemaker Authors Cohort
The Changemaker Authors Cohort is a yearlong intensive coaching program supporting full-time movement activists and social justice practitioners to complete books that create deep, durable narrative change to restructure the way people feel, think, and respond to the world.
To help create new networks of opportunity, Narrative Initiative partnered with the Unicorn Authors Club to offer this unique writing cohort for Changemaker Authors. Our first Changemaker Authors Cohort launched in early-2022; the 2023-2024 Cohort will begin in November 2023. This program is partially resourced by the Ford Foundation.
Narrative Initiative’s goal is to nourish and grow long-term progress for social justice by equipping changemakers with the necessary tools, relationships, and resources to build power and share ideas through collections of stories.
The Program
This fully remote program lasts up to a year and will follow a three-term structure, in which Story/Skills/Sanctuary concepts are adjusted for the different stages of the writing process. Each term will have a clear focus and each writer will develop outcomes and goals for both their process and craft.
The Changemaker Authors Cohort offers support toward making significant progress with your book project (i.e., a full-length manuscript or book proposal) including:
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- Program Orientation
- Assessment and Goal Setting
- Access to Curriculum Materials
- Peer Circles for Accountability and Support
- Monthly Craft Meetings
- Individual Coaching
- Five-Day Intensive Writing Retreat
- Information on the Publishing Process and Preparing a Submission Packet (depending on genre)
- Presentations and/or Panels with Publishing Professionals and Authors
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Synchronous full-group events follow a monthly cadence, while a community platform offers a depth of resources for individual learning as well as asynchronous discussion.
The Changemaker Authors Cohort provides many different opportunities for support and community. Each writer discovers their own sustainable writing pace amid the collective momentum toward finishing their books. Apart from the mandatory monthly craft & cohort meetings and the five-day writing retreat, cohort members are free to avail themselves of the program’s offerings in accordance with their own needs and established commitments to their writing.
If you have any questions about the program, please contact us at: changemakerauthor [at] narrativeinitiative dot org.
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