Author Jennifer De Leon on Storytelling as a Means of Connection

On September 26, students and faculty gathered in Smith Theater to hear from Jennifer De Leon, an award-winning author of young adult novels and nonfiction essay collections; a professor of creative writing; and the founder of Story Bridge, LLC, an organization that aims to bring together people from different experiences and backgrounds,  encouraging them to share their stories to uncover the similarities within their differences. 

Ms. De Leon was born and raised in the Boston area by Guatemalan parents. She has spent her education and professional career using writing and language as a vessel to understand and explore the importance of diversity and representation in literature and educational spaces.  “Studies have shown that when children don’t see themselves reflected in the books they are reading, they start to feel invisible,” Ms. De Leon stated. “They lose self-esteem, they might not raise their hands as much in class. They might not go for that dream internship, that dream college.”

In Hall, Ms. De Leon detailed her experiences navigating white spaces as a woman of color, noting that storytelling and writing have always been a steady lifeline in uncertain times. “There is one place where I have always felt like I don’t have to choose, like I can be my fully actualized self, and that is the page,” she explained with a smile. “Writing has always been a refuge for me. It has been a place where I don’t have to be anything but my truest self.”

This sentiment carried into Dr. Wilson’s creative writing class, which Ms. De Leon joined to lead a session on writing micro-essays, or short pieces of very descriptive writing. “Go a mile deep, not wide,” she encouraged. After reading a piece of her work as a lead-in to a writing session for the boys, faculty, and staff in the room, several volunteers bravely shared their writing samples in front of their peers and teachers.

Not only did Ms. De Leon positively affect the boys, prompting thoughtful questions from them during the Q&A, but it seems they affected her as well, as she applauded the level of engagement and interaction from the school community. “That is officially the most hands I’ve ever seen at an assembly,” she exclaimed when she asked if anyone had read the book The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. 

Everyone who sat in the Smith Theater that day has a story that deserves to be told. What started as a Hall between an author and students, ended as the meeting of a community of storytellers and writers.

Ms. De Leon has written two award-winning young adult novels, Borderless, featured on the TODAY show, and Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From. She is also the author and editor of two nonfiction titles: White Space: Essays on Culture, Race, & Writing, which won the Juniper Prize from the University of Massachusetts Press, and Wise Latinas: Writers on Higher Education, an International Latino Book Award-winning anthology. She is a professor of creative writing at Framingham State University and a faculty member for the Newport MFA Program. She has published prose in over a dozen literary journals including Ploughshares and Iowa Review, and she’s a contributor on NPR.