Events › Celebrating Our Roots - Mini Workshop

The Personal Essay: Finding the Story Only You Can Tell

Everyone has stories. The challenge isn't deciding whether your life is interesting enough to write about—it's learning how to recognize the moments that carry meaning and shape them into compelling narratives.

In this interactive workshop, award-winning journalist, author, and storyteller L'Oreal Thompson Payton will guide participants through the art of personal essay writing. Together, we'll explore how to identify essay-worthy experiences, uncover the deeper themes beneath our stories, and transform everyday moments into essays that resonate with readers. We'll also explore identity. 

Participants will leave with practical storytelling tools, writing prompts, and the beginnings of a personal essay of their own. Whether you're interested in memoir, personal blogging, publishing essays, or simply making sense of your experiences through writing, this workshop will help you find the story only you can tell.

NOTE: This program is the second of the three-part Celebrating Our Roots Series. Celebrating Our Roots is intended to highlight themes of BIPOC liberation, culture and art, all through an intersectional lens. The overall goal is to highlight the similarities between the African and Latin diasporas and emphasize the intersectionality that exists between cultures. The Celebrating Our Roots series is supported in part by the Jo-Anne Hirshfield Memorial Endowed Fund.

The City of Evanston is committed to promoting a Citywide culture of accessibility and inclusivity. To request an accommodation for a program, service, or activity, please call 847-866-2919, email disabilityservices@cityofevanston.org or Click this link for the COE accessibility page to make an ADA service request.