2023 Featured & Invited Speakers

Pádraig Ó Tuama is a poet, theologian, conflict resolution mediator, and the author of Poetry Unbound (2022), Feed the Beast (2022), Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community (2017), In the Shelter (2015), Sorry for your Troubles (2013), and Readings from the Books of Exile (2012), which was longlisted for the 2013 Polari First Book Prize.

For Ó Tuama, religion, conflict, power and poetry all circle around language, that original sacrament. Working fluently on the page and in public, Ó Tuama is a compelling poet, teacher, and group worker, and a profoundly engaging public speaker. He has worked with groups to explore story, conflict, their relationship with religion and argument, and violence. Using poetry, group discussion, and lectures, his work is marked both by lyricism and pragmatism, and includes a practice of evoking stories and participation from attendees at his always-popular lectures, retreats, and events. In 2011, with Paul Doran, Pádraig co-founded the storytelling event Tenx9 where nine people have up to ten minutes each to tell a true story from their lives.

His poems have been published at Poetry Ireland Review, Academy of American Poets, Post Road, cream city review, Holden Village Voice, Proximity Magazine, On Being, Gutter, America, and Seminary Ridge Review.

Pádraig Ó Tuama holds a BA Div validated by the Pontifical College of Maynooth, an MTh from Queen’s University Belfast and is currently engaged in a PhD in Theology through Creative Practice at the University of Glasgow exploring poetry, Irishness and religion.

He is based in Belfast, Ireland.

Sheri Marlin, M.Ed. is Chief Learning Officer at the Waters Center for Systems Thinking, where their mission is to make systems thinking accessible to everyone, across generations and geographies.  Sheri is also an adjunct faculty member for the Pacific University Doctor of Science program.  Sheri is co-author of the Habit-forming Guide to Becoming a Systems Thinker.

Ana McCracken received her B.S and MFA in Creative Writing and Environment from Iowa State University. Her writing and poetry can be found in refereed literary publications and anthologies. She is a certified Amherst Writers & Artists facilitator. A former board of director for Litquake Literary Festival in San Francisco, Ana is a member of the Willa Cather Foundation Board of Governors. In 2021, Ana founded the Ames Writers Collective, a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) committed to creating healthy communities through the art of Writing.

Sister Ann Jackson…additional details coming soon…

Michael Dahlstrom is the director of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University and holds a Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean’s Professorship. His research explores how storytelling impacts the communication of science and the ethical considerations involved. Dahlstrom’s work extends across diverse scientific contexts, including risk, health, agricultural and environmental communication and has been published in leading journals, such as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, PLOS Biology, Communication Research and Science Communication. He is also co-editor of Ethics and Practice in Science Communication, an edited volume focusing on the often-overlooked ethical challenges underlying science communication. Dahlstrom is a Kavli Fellow and is also a past head of the Communicating Science, Health, Environment and Risk Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication

Mary Jo Forbord…additional details coming soon…

Sharon Stewart…additional details coming soon…