http://www.narrativeinitiative.org/

Narrative Initiative, New York, NY (2026)

04/04/2025

This month is the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, and April 4 the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination, giving us two reasons to reflect on a historic friendship that speaks to his vision and courage.

In 1965, Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh wrote King a letter urging him to recognize their shared intellectual and spiritual legacy. A year later, they met and held a joint press conference in Chicago. They said, “...the struggles for equality and freedom in Birmingham, Selma and Chicago, as in Hue, Danang and Saigon, are aimed not at the domination of one people by another. They are aimed at self-determination, peaceful social change, and a better life for all human beings.” The trust that King and Nhat Hanh built together helped drive this anti-war stance into the public conversation.

It can be difficult to make friends across lines of difference, and that some power relations don’t lend themselves to friendship. But we can take King and Nhat Hanh’s example on building meaningful friendships whose care and commitments extend beyond just two people who know each other. Swipe to read three lessons we’ve gathered on how to make honorable relationships that change the world.

🔗 Learn more about the inspiring friendship between Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Thich Nhat Hanh: https://www.narrativeinitiative.org/blog-friends-in-struggle

03/27/2025

Raised in Davao, Philippines, Naro Alonzo is a tagahabi, or psychosocial accompaniment, for a collective offering ginhawa (wellbeing) and care support to social justice defenders and communities struggling against human rights violations, extractivism, and colonization. A clinical psychologist-in-training in the University of the Philippines, they practice as a decolonial, trauma-informed, human rights-based psychosocial security specialist focusing on victim-survivors of political repression. Naro’s writings (poetry/fiction) have been anthologized in Danas (Gantala Press), Busilak: New LGBTQ Poetry from the Philippines, and Tingle: Anthology of Le***an Writing.

Naro’s q***r YA speculative fiction novel centers on community care and courage in a time of enforced disappearances and militarization. It explores how political repression appears in the lives of ordinary people, such as in their emotions and relationships, and psychological journeys.

The Changemaker Authors Cohort is a joint program of Narrative Initiative and the Unicorn Authors Club, partially supported by the Ford Foundation. Twelve movement workers will join us in 2025-26 to develop their book projects with coaching, community, craft support, editing, and participation in our 4-day Camp Unicorn virtual writing retreat.

03/24/2025

For those of us working within climate justice and immigrant justice movements, the stakes could not be higher. Though much of our work right now involves defending against attacks, we must keep building our networks and relationships, and to hold our ground. Building new connections, and tending to established ones, is the only path toward powerful movements that can step into the chaos and orchestrate a resurgence of democracy.

As narrative strategists, we have learned that stories that emphasize the underlying values of care, interdependence, and power in organizing can provide a path forward. In our most recent blog, we share some tips from our Narrative Guide for Immigrant Futures, a guidance is based on original research produced by and , as well as research we conducted with Grow Progress. On March 31 at 1 p.m. ET, we will be unveiling a new narrative strategy deck on climate migration at our webinar.

Join us for Narrative Strategy for Climate Migration: Creating Content to Grow Our Audiences and Our Solutions, a webinar with Rinku Sen, Executive Director of Narrative Initiative, Orion Camero, Program Manager, Action lead, and Ahmed Gaya, Director of The Climate Justice Collaborative at the .

This session will explore the current narratives at play, identify needs and opportunities, and provide pragmatic guidance for communications and culture projects. We will nurture coordination of our collective power to center human dignity and democracy over disaster capitalism.

More information at the link in our bio

03/19/2025

As climate disasters intensify globally, millions are forced to leave their homes. Migrant justice and climate justice are interconnected and our movements must be, too.

Join us for Narrative Strategy for Climate Migration: Creating Content to Grow Our Audiences and Our Solutions, a webinar with Rinku Sen, Executive Director of Narrative Initiative and Orion Camero, Program Manager, Action lead.

📅 Monday, March 31, 2025

⏰ 1 p.m. EST | 12 p.m. CST | 10 a.m PST

📍 Zoom Webinar - Registration is required

Event description below 👇 RSVP at the link in our bio.

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This session will explore the current narratives at play, identify needs and opportunities, and provide pragmatic guidance for communications and culture projects. We will nurture coordination of our collective power to center human dignity and democracy over disaster capitalism.

03/11/2025

Dev’n M. Goodman is an educator and advocate working to grow community culturally and equitably. No matter the initiative, their goal is always to provide access and opportunity to those whose voices and talents have too often not been amplified.

Their book is a historical fiction detective novel, set during the post-Reconstruction Era. In their novel, the first Black American nun leads the charge to find missing Black girls in the city of New York. Along the way, she encounters places and people who are pivotal in American history.

The Changemaker Authors Cohort is a joint program of Narrative Initiative and the Unicorn Authors Club, partially supported by the Ford Foundation. Twelve movement workers will join us in 2025-26 to develop their book projects with coaching, community, craft support, editing, and participation in our 4-day Camp Unicorn virtual writing retreat. Camp Unicorn is open for you to join, too! See links in bio 🔗 for more info.

03/11/2025

Rona Fernandez is a writer and sustainable housing, racial and environmental justice activist who was born and raised and still lives on the unceded territory of the Lisjan people in the East Bay area, California. Her writing has appeared in publications such as The Masters Review, The Rumpus, Yes! Magazine, Greater Good Magazine, and What God Is Honored Here? An Anthology on Miscarriage and Infant Loss—the first collection of writings by Native women and women of color on this topic.

Rona’s book is a climate fiction novel which centers on a mother struggling to heal and keep her children safe in an increasingly hostile world, with the help of strangers she must learn to trust. Her work pushes readers to not only imagine humankind’s future but to question their assumptions about their needs, and what they would be willing to sacrifice to make collective liberation possible.

The Changemaker Authors Cohort is a joint program of Narrative Initiative and the Unicorn Authors Club, partially supported by the Ford Foundation. Twelve movement workers will join us in 2025-26 to develop their book projects with coaching, community, craft support, editing, and participation in our 4-day Camp Unicorn virtual writing retreat. You’re welcome to join Camp, too! See links in bio 🔗 for more info.

03/11/2025

Mick Moran is a q***r, nonbinary, white, fat, disabled artist and radical full-spectrum doula living in unceded Lenape territory (Brooklyn, NY). They have self-published more than a dozen zines on topics such as self-advocacy, disability, body size, gender, and end-of-life. Mick is the co-creator of My Choice Always, in All Ways: A Zine about Abortion for Trans and Nonbinary Folks and the editor of DIY Doula: Self-Care for Before, During, and After Your Abortion.

Mick has taught workshops on reproductive justice, creating screen-reader accessible zines, and media activism, and their comics have been published in Comics for Choice and Narratively. A 2024 Emerge Fellow with the Longmore Institute on Disability, they are a “disability doula” for people navigating the complex systems and feelings that come with a change in ability.

Mick’s book is a graphic memoir-in-progress that demonstrates, through personal stories of interactions with healthcare providers, that the consequences of implicit bias are more than just “hurt feelings.” Rooted in disability justice, reproductive justice, and fat liberation, this book questions who is seen as deserving of care and how that care is delivered.

The Changemaker Authors Cohort is a joint program of Narrative Initiative and the Unicorn Authors Club, partially supported by the Ford Foundation. Twelve movement workers will join us in 2025-26 to develop their book projects with coaching, community, craft support, editing, and participation in our 4-day Camp Unicorn virtual writing retreat. Camp Unicorn is open to you, too! See our website for more info: https://unicornauthors.club/camp-unicorn-2025/

03/07/2025

Lina Srivastava is a strategist, advocate, producer, and founder of the Center for Transformational Change, a social enterprise that applies narrative strategies to cultivate community power and build just futures. Lina has collaborated with civil society organizations and international NGOs and has worked on social engagement strategy for award-winning film, media, and art projects. She has taught in the SVA Masters of Design for Social Innovation Program, has been a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Fellow, a Rockwood Institute/JustFilms Fellow, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and is a graduate of New York University School of Law. Lina’s writing has appeared in venues such as TIME, Ms. Magazine, and the Stanford Social Innovation Review. She is the co-producer and moderator of The New Humanitarian’s Power Shift podcast.

Lina’s book offers a framework for creating more just and vibrant futures grounded in narrative power. At a time of global precarity, we are facing the combined effects of climate crises, displacement, authoritarianism, and rising inequality. But we still have time to transform our systems. Built on two decades of her work, the book will feature case studies from Lina’s own portfolio as well as those of other creative advocates, demonstrating how shifting narratives can fuel collective action toward justice, equity, and shared prosperity.

The Changemaker Authors Cohort is a joint program of Narrative Initiative and the Unicorn Authors Club, partially supported by the Ford Foundation. Twelve movement workers will join us in 2025-26 to develop their book projects with coaching, community, craft support, editing, and participation in our 4-day Camp Unicorn virtual writing retreat. Camp Unicorn is open to YOU, too! See our website for more: https://unicornauthors.club/camp-unicorn-2025/ 🦄

03/05/2025

In their career, Sol Garcia Jones has focused on creating learning and healing spaces around identity, social justice, leadership, and education. She is currently the national director of curriculum and instruction at the Surge Institute, a leadership development accelerator for BIPOC education leaders.

Sol’s book is the first of a climate fiction fantasy trilogy. The series follows a young woman from a remote tribe with unique abilities to manage extreme climate challenges that has remained separated from the mainland. Born in unusual circumstances, her bold protagonist seeks out answers by going to the mainland and defying tradition.

The Changemaker Authors Cohort is a joint program of Narrative Initiative and the Unicorn Authors Club, partially supported by the Ford Foundation. Twelve movement workers will join us in 2025-26 to develop their book projects with coaching, community, craft support, editing, and participation in our 4-day Camp Unicorn virtual writing retreat. Camp Unicorn is open to you, too! See our website for more: https://unicornauthors.club/camp-unicorn-2025/

03/04/2025

Raquel Villagra is a New York-based lawyer working to address the economic harms of systemic discrimination by fighting predatory financial practices and advocating for institutions rooted in cooperation, equity, and sustainability. She provides legal aid to low-income people on financial justice issues, litigates cases targeting harmful corporate and government practices that impact thousands, and organizes groups across New York to push for transformational policies, centering marginalized communities. In law school, she was co-editor-in-chief of the N.Y.U. Review of Law & Social Change, a publication for social change-oriented scholarship; a Helaine Barnett Fellow with Legal Services Corporation; and a student advocate defending children in juvenile delinquency cases.

Raquel’s book is a contemporary romance following an introverted law student who confronts her fears, finds her voice, and learns about love and the power of women of color to create change along the way.

The Changemaker Authors Cohort is a joint program of Narrative Initiative and the Unicorn Authors Club, partially supported by the Ford Foundation. Twelve movement workers will join us in 2025-26 to develop their book projects with coaching, community, craft support, editing, and participation in our 4-day Camp Unicorn virtual writing retreat. Camp Unicorn is available to you, too! See https://unicornauthors.club/camp-unicorn-2025/ for more info.

03/04/2025

Fabiola Santiago is from Santiago Matatlán, Oaxaca, Mexico and belongs to the Central Valley Zapotecs. Her experiences as a formerly undocumented person and her connection to Oaxaca’s rich culture anchors her commitment to community, equity, and possibility. She’s the founder and executive director of Mi Oaxaca, an organization whose purpose is to combat Indigenous erasure through narrative change, cultural education, and collaboration with compatible organizations across borders. Fabiola imagines a world where Indigenous people are attributed for their cultural and culinary contributions and have sovereignty over it. She earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology and master’s degree in public health from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Fabiola’s creative non-fiction book explores the commodification of Oaxaca, Mexico, through an intersectional-diasporic-Indigenous lens. The book focuses on the prevalence of cultural appropriation and indigenous erasure in the mezcal and food industry. Through interviews and talking circles, she shares experiences of Oaxaqueñas/os who are the backbone of the commercial industries. It offers thought-provoking and reflective stories aimed at challenging consumerism as a way to build systems where Indigenous peoples and lands are respected and sovereign.

The Changemaker Authors Cohort is a joint program of Narrative Initiative and the Unicorn Authors Club, partially supported by the Ford Foundation. Twelve movement workers will join us in 2025-26 to develop their book projects with coaching, community, craft support, editing, and participation in our 4-day Camp Unicorn virtual writing retreat. See our website for more info.

Narrative Initiative

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