Ink and Insurgence: Writing as Social Activism

This non-fiction workshop will explore the writer as an activist-artist, whose work, whether in the library or on the street, can inspire social change. Moving beyond mere rhetoric, we will focus on writing as a tool to dismantle the invisible scaffolding of societal, political, and religious expectations. Together, we will interrogate various models of writing as activism, trying to understand why some narratives spark a quiet revolution while others may alienate the reader.

This workshop is a space for the uncomfortable, necessary work of truth-telling. Through generative exercises, participants will learn to transform lived experience into urgent, compelling prose. We will examine the constraints of tradition and the battlegrounds of daily life, viewing writing not just as a solitary act, but as an act of bearing witness and preserving collective memory, as well as a vehicle for words that actively shape reality.

This workshop welcomes participants of all levels, though a baseline writing ability and some prior experience will help you get the most out of the curriculum.

The Collegeville Institute will cover all workshop fees, room and board, as well as most travel expenses to and from the workshop within the continental United States. International travel costs, and travel from Hawaii and Alaska, may be shared between the Collegeville Institute and the workshop participant. Those who join the workshop will be expected to reside at the Collegeville Institute throughout the entire workshop.

Leader Bios:

Tom Montgomery Fate is a retired English professor and the author of six books of creative nonfiction, including The Long Way Home, a travel memoir, Cabin Fever, a nature memoir, and Steady and Trembling, a spiritual memoir. A regular contributor to the Chicago Tribune, his work has been widely published in journals and magazines.  Dozens of his essays have also aired on NPR and Chicago Public Radio. 

Karen González is a speaker, writer, storyteller, and immigrant advocate, who herself immigrated from Guatemala as a child. Karen is a former public school teacher and attended Fuller Theological Seminary, where she studied theology and missiology. For the last 17 years, she has been a non-profit professional. She wrote a book about her own immigration story and some of the immigrants found in the Bible: The God Who Sees: Immigrants, The Bible, and the Journey to Belong (Herald Press, May 2019). Karen’s second book is Beyond Welcome: Centering Immigrants in our Christian Response to Immigration (Brazos Press, October 2022). She also has bylines in Sojourners, Christianity Today, The Christian Century, and others. Karen lives in Washington, D.C. where she’s working on her next book. 

Application Process: Applications due by Sunday, January 3. Apply here.